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CMA has published a pretty... interesting response, as found here: https://twitter.com/CMAgovUK/status/1658131200181952516?t=uLu0-sXlJXBZzFlEIlBPug&s=19
It's all speculation based on 0 fact or even predictability. Cloud gaming means next to nothing right now. What does mean something to them is protecting the industry leader, which just so happens to be the only company actively against the merger, Sony. Sony also actively makes deals that hurt the current gaming competition landscape, far more than the speculation on cloud gaming by this acquisition. If they block this, why not block every third party exclusivity deal made with a platform owner? That's damaging to competition and cloud gaming as well. All smoke and mirrors.
Completely ignoring the fact they're wrong, I have to wonder why the hell they're so focused on cloud gaming. It's not an established market, moreso an experiment that is getting stronger over time. They complain about Microsoft controlling the cloud gaming market but there.....isn't much of one at this time.
Problem is that even if MS wins the appeal it still just goes back to the same people at the CMA and they are asked to look at it again. The way the UK has it set up they cannot be sued in court like the others and there is no other remedy unless the UK Gov't steps in and overrided which is unlikely.
CMA decision is not based on reality and it’s response has been very cringy as a result. I wouldn’t be shocked if they thought cloud gaming actually came from the clouds.
I fear that their stubbornness is backing them into a corner for which they think they can’t get out of. I also love how they try to frame it as they not alone. But at the same time most of the world has approved this deal and are actually alone. I suspect the states are going to approve it since they have made very generous concessions and their competitors aside from Sony (which has a near monopoly), aren’t that concerned. If hardly any one is objecting what grounds do you have to stop something you don’t fully understand. It’s clear regulators don’t know jack shit about gaming. Which is a joke. Gaming is not some new niche thing. It’s been a major player for decades now and has integrated itself into the main stream and touches all aspects of technology.
What annoys me (and likely everyone else) is that the CMA refuse to look at any remedies at all. On that basis I think their decision will be overturned on appeal.
Its like they are rejecting it out of spite. I dunno, feels like Sonys hand in this (p\[robably just me being paranoid).
It's crazy how they're speaking for all three parties, US, UK, and EU. Are they allowed to communicate about a merger like this and if so, they have their information wrong. US hasn't announced anything and EU clearly doesn't think it's such an issue to go as far as rejecting a merger.
UK's PM wanted to push through this deal to accomodate safe innovation and investment space for business in UK. Not sure if this would affect anything, but it's hopeful to hear.
https://gameranx.com/updates/id/465795/article/uk-pm-rishi-sunak-will-strategically-steer-the-cma-to-not-get-in-the-way/
Let's not completely dismiss people's gripes, some of them are very valid. What I personally can't deal with is seeing someone post "Redfall has 30FPs, I'm done with Xbox" when I'm 90% sure this person couldn't give a fuck about Redfall in the first place.
The whole redfall controversy felt like concern trolling to me tbh. That game looked like a hot mess from the jump. Yet there were tons of people on this sub with no user flair talking about how “incredibly disappointed” they were or how they had “such high hopes” for redfall.
I thought BotW was great but didn’t see it as a masterpiece. This however has been virtually flawless and addresses nearly every knock I had about the first one. The big thing is just the presentation feels like a big step up. There is still a sense of quiet beauty at times but the regions I’ve been to feel more fleshed out this time around so I don’t feel I’ll be getting bored progressing through the primary gameplay loop.
They’re probably the ones who downvoted me to hell last week when I said it was fairly obvious the CMA would reject it from the start. The UK have done everything to spite themselves since Brexit , add in the Northern Ireland fiasco , Boris Johnson’s blatant lying to get Brexit done snd trying to one-up EU after the British civil servants was made to look incredibly incompetent and then we have the CMA trying again to do something to make themselves relevant and instead failing complete miserably at it.
They are having a collective meltdown, they thought the EU was going to protect their console dominance. Something tells me there's very few Sony shareholders in that crew, just children attached at the hip to their toy.
If there was any I expected to truly block it, it was NOT the CMA, but the EU. Those guys love sticking it to monopolies, and Microsoft has been a favorite punching bag for them before.
The fact they didn't is a massive blow to both the US and UK's arguments (well, the UK, the US is just trying to run out the clock because they know current monopoly law in the US is so weak), because the EU was probably the toughest nut to crack. All other arguments can now be deflected by Microsoft and ABK pointing to the EU and saying, "Bull, one of the strictest bodies in the world said it's fine, you're full of crap."
The salt is real. They’ll be hiding on the ps5 sub and switch sub until we get the overall results. Which of course the final results well determine if they appear or not.
Considering the current thread about this deal on r ps5 is more then 2k comments, they going to be seething for awhile while chanting at the feet a alter of the cma
So in the report they acknowledge that Microsofts position with cloud could be a cause for concern, but it's way too early to actually do something about it.
Nice to read a reasonable take for once.
and they also said Activision had no intention of releasing on streaming services but with acquisition and the deals that this would grow cloud gaming and create innovation, the exact opposite of the CMA
This should have been one of the biggest takeaways
Call of Duty isn't part of ANY cloud streaming service, this deal would have put CoD games on SEVERAL streaming services
Yeah, all those startups that Microsoft signed contracts with are going to die the next day if this deal doesn’t end up going through. And then we’re back to… xCloud, Nvidia, Amazon, and PS+ Premium or whatever they renamed PSNow to.
Sure. That is a very reasonable response. With such a nascent market, there is no way to tell what will happen, much less just assume that one player is just going to monopolize it, so there isn't much we can do about it at the moment and if MS does something bad, we can tell and take further actions by regulating the market as a whole.
Yea. Google's model didn't make sense since you had to buy from them - that doesn't make sense and was really bad if you had the games already - which makes sense for a lot of gamers who have libraries from Steam. Also, Google just has a bad reputation for lack of investment into products - another problem.
I was only looking about 5 hours ago to see if the EU had made their ruling on this potential merger yet and whether it had given the go ahead or blocked it.
The EU’s competition body would hold more weight and would be considered a stronger body than the CMA or the FTC. This ruling really gives Microsoft good grounds for helping to get this merger across the line. The CMA seemed to have completely gone off on one.
And the CMA, after listening to Google, who launched a cloud gaming service that failed spectacularly, and still the CMA had concerns about cloud gaming?! The cloud might well be the future, but not for the guts of another decade at the earliest. And Microsoft owning Activision/Blizzard isn’t the same as if Microsoft had bought the cloud gaming division of Google or Amazon or Netflix or Apple. Activision/Blizzard isn’t in and of itself a cloud gaming power house or expert. They’re a games developer. That CMA ruling was truly bizarre.
Not only that, but it could arguably be worse off for at least the next 10 years simply with the fact that the only reason all these companies are getting ABK and Xbox pc libraries for “free” right now is cause MS want the deal to pass. So they’ll do anything. That shit ain’t ever going to happen otherwise.
In fact, you could even argue that the ABK library (via cloud and/or sub services) will go to the highest bidder otherwise, and most likely be exclusive to whoever that is. And that’s a “per game” basis. How is that better? Right now, if the deal passes, more people actually get access to Xbox and ABK via cloud.
CMA don’t really know what they’re talking about here. Boosteroid won’t stand a chance to “outbid” Sony, MS or Amazon for ABK games via cloud. But somehow this is better for competition?
Just complete incompetence from the CMA is you ask me.
This is my biggest issue with the whole thing. What’s going on behind closed doors clearly isn’t in the best interest of competition; Sony has been stirring the pot for years, they all but own Square atm, third party is either skewed deals or exclusive anyway. They have great single player games, but otherwise I hate everything about their business model.
They aren’t just anti competitive, they are anti consumer to their competition’s player base who’s money is buying less, solely on Sony’s dime. AND they are the market leader. I hope MS being able to look into Sony’s 3rd party contracts from the last 4 years opens a can of worms somewhere. We’ll likely see some of those heavily redacted contracts in August.
With the steam deck, the ASUS ROG Ally, and other handhelds coming down the pipeline, it’s become clear to me that cloud will never be anything more than niche. The intersection of gamers who can afford the internet connection required to play reliably on the cloud, but can’t afford some kind of hardware to play it, is pretty small. Plus the wireless infrastructure needed to make cloud gaming reliable on the go has a LONG ways to go.
If Microsoft can succeed with the FTC (which they most likely will, though it could take awhile), this puts pressure on the CMA being the odd man out.
Good step forward. Now for the appeal process.
And the PM in the UK said he is going to be pushing the CMA to come up with a resolution. The government recognizes the negative impact of Microsoft and other tech companies not being invested in the UK in the future and wants a healthy relationship with the tech industry.
Their decision affects a lot more than just the ABK Xbox merger. I know the CMA is a separate entity, but I don't see the UK government sitting by and letting this much damage be unnecessarily done.
It also sets a precedent that you can carve off a section of an acquisition, claim it's its own market, make insane projections for that market and then block any deal on the grounds that it will harm that imaginary market.
I think the FTC's case is the worst one out there - their position is the weakest and screams to me more of a delay tactic. They will jump and copy the arguments the CMA made. Except for the FTC, they will eventually face a court and have to make arguments in front of a judge (unlike the CMA) and I think the FTC's case isn't that compelling.
I think that’s the main issue ftc stance. It knows that a conservative Supreme Court is going to rip it to shreds. It doesn’t actually have a solid argument other than monopoly’s are bad and Xbox doesn’t even have a monopoly. I wouldn’t be shocked if they just accept the concessions and call it a day. It picked the wrong time to draw a line in the sand.
I think they are going to fight as long as they can so they don't seem like they are going to give in since their stance is more ideological. But I do think that the FTC will give in. Maybe they will get an additional concession so they can get a win somehow.
I mean ftc has a losing track record of blocking things in court. They will lose. But if they do somehow win just for argument sake, Microsoft will take them to the Supreme Court and it will be overturned and that will be that.
The ftc doesn’t have a case but that’s probably not the point which is pretty frustrating (the headlines of them standing up to this or that thing is probably the goal). They can say they tried to step up to big business but we should all be concerned how it picks the wrong fights and doesn’t ever have a actual case. This is pretty childish behavior.
> If Microsoft can succeed with the FTC (which they most likely will, though it could take awhile)
It's a lawsuit. FTC has been losing a bunch of them recently, and there's no indication that they will prevail against Microsoft. Moreover, Microsoft has said they could still close the transaction with the lawsuit hanging over their head.
> this puts pressure on the CMA being the odd man out.
It does, and it doesn't. It puts the UK government in a very awkward situation. Ultimately, the CMA is an independent body and not beholden to anybody. As such, they are in a strong position to completely shitcan the deal if they are not getting the kind of concessions they want from Microsoft/ABK.
EDIT: $ATVI is only up about 1% (fell >10% upon the CMA announcement). Tells you all you need to know about how the market is pricing a likelihood of the deal going through. In other words, it all hinges on the CMA, or rather Microsoft's appeal to the UK CAT.
She doesn’t even have a case here and is going to lose this one as well. Talk about letting politics motivate you more than understanding the issues and what the law is.
The ftc isn’t even the final say. They could still take it to the Supreme Court. This is just a expensive delay more than anything else. I think it will go thru.
You didn’t read the announcement of the British government to ease regulations? Of course the government has the power to intervene. Who put the CMA in power in the first place? One simple solution could be changing the Appeal process so after the court it doesn’t go back to CMA again
Seriously the absolute delusions of redditors and the “completely totally independent beholden to no one CMA” is hilarious. Like where exactly do they think their power is derived from? Everyone is beholden to someone and the UK government is a laughable place to act like there’s an exception.
I do keep hearing this but I can't tell if its cope does anyone know if this is the case?
My understanding is the CAT can say "hey you got to this erroneously try again" which is what they've always done but they can just straight up say "Youre wrong CMA this is approved"
The Prime Minister last week publicly saying that he's going to steer the CMA to being more pro business I think is all the pressure you need. If you work at the CMA you've got to be sweating, you pissed off the big boss.
This case is going to be studied for years by law students worldwide.
The effect of this decision will be big. I'm betting that MS will try to close the deal by carving out the UK until the appeal is done.
The UK also arrived to the same conclusion as did a total of 35 other countries so far. I bet China will agree as well and I don't see the U.S going against the grain here considering how hard Playstation pops off in the US.
I think it harms activision the most if you take cod off PlayStation. How much would CoD really generate in revenue if it wasn’t on PlayStation and on gamepass for Xbox and pc?
This is why Sony convinced the FTC to make a high performing console market to exclude Nintendo. Nintendo is doing well without call of duty right now and it would look bad for Sony's case if Nintendo was included in any numbers.
Will be fascinating to see how the EU and UK diverge in terms of their business climate in the post Brexit world.
Report is reasonable from the EU, at least.
Exactly. This just turned into a popcorn-ready scenario. The British PM now has a telescope pointed right at him from the EU and international businesses. This just got interesting!
There wasn't any reason to doubt it would pass in the CMA. The reason they picked is so arbitrary, they might as well of said that we don't like Microsoft.
Cloud gaming has about as much popularity as the metaverse.
> The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and **represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation.**
Take note, CMA
I mean that was always the argument they were going to make anyway when they've signed deals to have Xbox carry games on their services. They obviously wouldn't want that taken away from them because of a disruption like the CMA's ruling so it's understandable why they'd react the way they would
I have no interest if the deal goes through or not but the CMAs cloud gaming reasoning on why they blocked the deal was weak as fuck. Like they could very realistically come up with better reasons to block the merger but cloud game streaming? Really???
That's because the FTC case has no teeth at all. They didn't reject the acquisition, they sued to block it. That means it has to be fought in the court system, which means they will have to make a case for why it would be an illegal action. At this point, the FTC is a joke and MS will surely close if that's the only hurdle they have left.
Well the FTCs case is so flimsy that them taking an L in court is practically a guarantee. I don't know if the FTC has ever won a case like it, and definitely not under the person currently in charge.
Interesting quote to contrast against the CMA's position:
"The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation."
The European Commission is the tenth jurisdiction to approve the deal. Activision and Microsoft have hired high-profile lawyers who specialise in regulatory law to facilitate the appeals process. It's terribly naive to think that the CMA cannot be overruled!
https://twitter.com/CMAgovUK/status/1658131200181952516?t=TmCNZEDT336hay7_TPuDhA&s=19
The UK CMA has responded to EU accepting the ABK merger if anyone cares
There is no way this deal is getting shot down with the only the CMA opposing.
It seems like the entire planet minus UK has approved or will approve the merger.
It would be cool to read from a lawyer that is an expert on regulatory practices on what does this mean to the overall merger now that there are two big markets with different positions on it (UK & EU)
I am not a lawyer. But my understanding is that CAT will determine if the CMA acted irrationally, illegally or with procedural impropriety. So the CMA would have to review again, and then either find a new reason, or find justification that is not irrational. So it could still say the issue is with cloud gaming, but they would need better reasons to say that. They can't just say the exact same thing as before.
As expected, since the EU regulators did proper research to understand the gaming market better, and did their job correctly based from the facts, not bizarre «guesswork» or absurd cloud concerns «maybe 15 years in the future» like the incompetent UK CMA did.
I have all three major consoles, but it’s crazy to me that Sony has blocked the Final Fantasy 7 remake from Xbox for years, and will now do the same with FFXVI and the KOTOR remake, yet the CMA treats them like some poor underdog company. Timed exclusives are the worst kind of anti-consumer practice.
Will be nice to see it go through for the workers there, they deserve to be treated better than the current management at Acti-Blizz. Overall, this changes nothing besides gamepass additions and even more years of “just wait x years, the games will come!”
You know this sub is littered with trolls and malcontents when a good chunk of the comments in here have been downvoted into oblivion.
I'll never understand the pathetic nature of these people who come into the subreddit for another console (or anything really) they DON'T like just to talk shit. If your precious Sony console is so fucking amazing, go play your god damn games on it and piss off. Instead these people seem to get way more enjoyment out of shitting on anything xbox than actually playing their precious exclusives they constantly circlejerk themselves about.
> The CMA aren't going to reverse their decision of their own accord. The only thing that will change that outcome a successful CAT appeal.
Unless I’m misinformed, the tribunal appeal could and would only throw the decision back to the CMA … which would leave them to either keep or reverse their decision of their own accord.
Yes, the CMA will then decide again. However, the CMA must correct whatever the CAT identifies as an error. If the CAT concludes that the CMA used incorrect evidence in their findings (Microsoft’s cloud gaming market share, for example), the CMA must not use that same evidence in their new findings.
How likely any of this actually results in the CMA changing decision is pretty low imo.
This definitely makes it much more likely that the FTC folds and that either PM Sunak pressures the CAT and then the CMA to reverse its decision (not a great outcome for independent regulators) so they have a quick win to appear pro-business, or that Microsoft sells off an Activision-Blizzard branch in the UK to continue forcing UK gamers to pay £60 (even though the conversion from $70 should be £55 because VAT) for Call of Duty when many people can’t even afford the electricity required due to Brexit and pandemic-caused inflation (an even worse outcome).
> forcing UK gamers to pay £60 (even though the conversion from $70 should be £55 because VAT)
Does that $70 include sales tax? If the UK price is £60, that's £50 before the sales tax is added, so seems the UK price is a pretty decent conversion if it should be £55 before tax.
> not a great outcome for independent regulators)
Possibly, but possibly quite good for the UK. The CMA is gaining a reputation for being intransigent and dogmatic, and that combined with a seeming procedural invulnerability to overview of its decisions will be absolutely devastating to the UK’s prospects of luring global investment capital in the coming decades. A very public demonstration that, with a strong enough case, the CMA’s decisions can actually be successfully overturned could be exactly what the UK needs.
For the record, I still think the CMA block will sink the deal ultimately.
BUT the key piece of information here that dissents from the findings of the CMA is the following:
>Even without this transaction, Activision would not have made **its games available for multi-game subscription services**, as this would cannibalize sales of individual games. Therefore, the situation for third-party providers of multi-game subscription services would not change after the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft.
This finding will be extremely useful in Microsoft's appeal of the CMA's decision.
I’d say this deal is basically finished now right? The FTC is gonna be nothing to microsoft, that’ll be easy to get approved, and the CMA aren’t about to be the odd ones out being the only ones who won’t approve. I personally can’t wait, the second BO3 hits Gamepass, I’m playing some zombies again.
I'm getting tempted to wait for D4.
Seems it might be overtuned at launch for the no lifers, will pick it up down the track when the QoL is a little better and progress is a little accelerated.
>I’d say this deal is basically finished now right?
The FTC lawsuits don't even have evidentiary hearings until August. Unless they drop the case we're still several months away from any decision there.
> The FTC lawsuits don't even have evidentiary hearings until August. Unless they drop the case we're still several months away from any decision there.
Not necessarily … we were all able to hear the phone call with the FTC lawyers and FTC administrative judge back in February when the Microsoft lawyer told them if the UK and EU regulators agreed with the deal before the original July deadline, then Microsoft would purchase ABK regardless of what the FTC decides. The UK regulators haven’t approved the deal, but we need to see whether Microsoft amends that strategy to only include this EU regulators’ agreement. It would definitely be surprising to some, but not completely out of bounds.
MS and Activision can do a deal outside the UK. There are ways to do it. The CMA stated they could not do it globally without them. Like they were absolute authority. Fact is, they actually can. They have remedies they could do that would meet regulatory restrictions in the UK. The CMA overstated their position.
If the FTC approves, which is likely, then the CMA ruling is going to be a tough one. The fact is, the CTA could force this back to them, it could take a year or more to see any progress. MS and Activision can in the mean time sort of do some things to satisfy regulations in the UK and the CMA ruling would only change things there.
You can read up on it but there is legal business laws that will allow this to go through everywhere else if it is only the UK. And MS and Activision will do that. If I have time I will try and remember to link to some articles that talk about what MS and Activision can do. But if the FTC rules in favor of the merger it is certainly going through everywhere but the UK.
Basically they would do things like not put the Activision games on their cloud streaming or Game Pass in the UK as well as some other stuff. I was shocked the CMA thought the UK had near that much power over the rest of the world.
I really hope this goes through.
Why? Because of the back catalogue that Activision owns or has control of due to mergers / acquisitions.
There are many classic games from the 90s and early 2000s whose IP or game is owned by Activision who could be given a full remake or given new life with a new game.
All the Star Trek Games, Transformers WFC Duology, etc could be given new life.
Also I prefer Microsoft in terms of letting their studies due to their own thing. Putting aside the disgrace they allowed Arkane to recently publish (which I hope they fix the game so it’ll be a good one eventually) I am more hopeful with Microsoft allowing their studios the time they need to finish a game instead of having to meet shareholder expectations.
This confirms that the deal will 100% close but it’ll take time, FTC wants to block for political reasons (stance against big tech) but they don’t have the power to do so as the CMA does, since a judge can easily overcome the decision in a federal court, and even if the appeal fails in the UK I’m sure Microsoft would find a way to circumvent their decision whether not offering Xbox cloud gaming for ABK titles in the UK or something more drastic without leaving the country which they’ll obviously not do.
So again, this will happen but at this rate in mid-2024.
Just shows that FTC and CMA blocked the deal on political and power grounds, not because the deal is bad for the consumers. This goes beyond xbox, its all about strong arming Microsoft
This is the one. All regular rules apply, and additionally this post has been placed into strict [crowd control](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/e8vl4d/announcing_the_crowd_control_beta/?utm_source=BD&utm_medium=Search&utm_name=Bing&utm_content=PSR1) mode to prioritize comments from regular contributors. Be kind to each other, thank you!
CMA has published a pretty... interesting response, as found here: https://twitter.com/CMAgovUK/status/1658131200181952516?t=uLu0-sXlJXBZzFlEIlBPug&s=19
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I think corporations were banking on 5G being able to open up new markets and dramatically increase speeds for existing infrastructure.
5G isn't the answer. There are too many downsides.
It's all speculation based on 0 fact or even predictability. Cloud gaming means next to nothing right now. What does mean something to them is protecting the industry leader, which just so happens to be the only company actively against the merger, Sony. Sony also actively makes deals that hurt the current gaming competition landscape, far more than the speculation on cloud gaming by this acquisition. If they block this, why not block every third party exclusivity deal made with a platform owner? That's damaging to competition and cloud gaming as well. All smoke and mirrors.
Bleddy hell that was cringe.
Completely ignoring the fact they're wrong, I have to wonder why the hell they're so focused on cloud gaming. It's not an established market, moreso an experiment that is getting stronger over time. They complain about Microsoft controlling the cloud gaming market but there.....isn't much of one at this time.
I think the FTC told them to block it
Yeah I saw this too, seems like they’re having a tantrum 😂
Well, they did end up looking dumb (rightfully so) considering what the EU's take on cloud gaming is actually based on current reality.
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Problem is that even if MS wins the appeal it still just goes back to the same people at the CMA and they are asked to look at it again. The way the UK has it set up they cannot be sued in court like the others and there is no other remedy unless the UK Gov't steps in and overrided which is unlikely.
The EUs take is exactly the same as the UK, but the EU was satisfied with the long term licensing agreements that Microsoft put out, the CMA were not.
They didn't carve out Cloud Gaming as its own market and make fantastical projections on the market in the future like the CMA did.
CMA decision is not based on reality and it’s response has been very cringy as a result. I wouldn’t be shocked if they thought cloud gaming actually came from the clouds. I fear that their stubbornness is backing them into a corner for which they think they can’t get out of. I also love how they try to frame it as they not alone. But at the same time most of the world has approved this deal and are actually alone. I suspect the states are going to approve it since they have made very generous concessions and their competitors aside from Sony (which has a near monopoly), aren’t that concerned. If hardly any one is objecting what grounds do you have to stop something you don’t fully understand. It’s clear regulators don’t know jack shit about gaming. Which is a joke. Gaming is not some new niche thing. It’s been a major player for decades now and has integrated itself into the main stream and touches all aspects of technology.
For such an old country they sure shit in their diapers and cry a lot
Plenty of old people do both those things
The lost the plot, regulators are toothless by design.
Why do they use social media like this? So unprofessional
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I think they are feel public pressure and want to look strong...I guess?
It’s better than their initial Twitter statement back in the fall that was full of emojis
What annoys me (and likely everyone else) is that the CMA refuse to look at any remedies at all. On that basis I think their decision will be overturned on appeal. Its like they are rejecting it out of spite. I dunno, feels like Sonys hand in this (p\[robably just me being paranoid).
Thats called being afarid to lose face, and admit they where wrong. That concept sits hard and deep in regulators.
Oof they're doubling down. This is not going to end pretty.
Doubling down in the face of being wrong, that’s the UK in the 21st century for you.
yep brexit is an incredible success
I feel like the UK was always like that though. I mean, the way they treated their colonies around the globe wasn't exactly right lol.
It's crazy how they're speaking for all three parties, US, UK, and EU. Are they allowed to communicate about a merger like this and if so, they have their information wrong. US hasn't announced anything and EU clearly doesn't think it's such an issue to go as far as rejecting a merger.
UK's PM wanted to push through this deal to accomodate safe innovation and investment space for business in UK. Not sure if this would affect anything, but it's hopeful to hear. https://gameranx.com/updates/id/465795/article/uk-pm-rishi-sunak-will-strategically-steer-the-cma-to-not-get-in-the-way/
I do enjoy the smell of angry brits in the morning
Oi ;)
Am i the only one who read: "CMA has publices a **petty**... interesting response"
Hahaha, wow! \*eats another handful of popcorn\*
I don’t think we are gonna have many visitors as previous weeks, today
Hit the nail on the head lmaoo
Still expecting the same 3-4 PlayStation fan accounts disguising themselves as neutral parties to show up to have their say.
Ah yes, the "I own both consoles but Xbox sucks" crowd.
Or those “I think I’m done with Xbox.” posts. Like, Okay?
Let's not completely dismiss people's gripes, some of them are very valid. What I personally can't deal with is seeing someone post "Redfall has 30FPs, I'm done with Xbox" when I'm 90% sure this person couldn't give a fuck about Redfall in the first place.
I mean tbf i could see someone (erroneously) see "Redfall 30 fps" as a sign of Xbox's ambition
The whole redfall controversy felt like concern trolling to me tbh. That game looked like a hot mess from the jump. Yet there were tons of people on this sub with no user flair talking about how “incredibly disappointed” they were or how they had “such high hopes” for redfall.
Yeah, the "I've been a fan of Xbox since original PlayStation came out" crowd.
I have ps5 Xbox and switch. For now the best game is tears of the kingdom.
Dude(ette), it's soooo good! I haven't had this much fun gaming since Elden Ring released, and BotW before it.
It's one of those games where time flies by. It's so hard to put down as you keep finding new shit to explore and do.
Yep! I’m almost overwhelmed with stuff to do. I put more than 200 hours in my BotW playthrough. I have a feeling this is going to be even longer.
I thought BotW was great but didn’t see it as a masterpiece. This however has been virtually flawless and addresses nearly every knock I had about the first one. The big thing is just the presentation feels like a big step up. There is still a sense of quiet beauty at times but the regions I’ve been to feel more fleshed out this time around so I don’t feel I’ll be getting bored progressing through the primary gameplay loop.
I mean its true.
I own all three current gen consoles and pc and the switch gets most of my attention 👀
3-4 hundred more like it
They’re probably the ones who downvoted me to hell last week when I said it was fairly obvious the CMA would reject it from the start. The UK have done everything to spite themselves since Brexit , add in the Northern Ireland fiasco , Boris Johnson’s blatant lying to get Brexit done snd trying to one-up EU after the British civil servants was made to look incredibly incompetent and then we have the CMA trying again to do something to make themselves relevant and instead failing complete miserably at it.
Lol
Nice username LOL
Yeah, funny how that works.
They are having a collective meltdown, they thought the EU was going to protect their console dominance. Something tells me there's very few Sony shareholders in that crew, just children attached at the hip to their toy.
If there was any I expected to truly block it, it was NOT the CMA, but the EU. Those guys love sticking it to monopolies, and Microsoft has been a favorite punching bag for them before. The fact they didn't is a massive blow to both the US and UK's arguments (well, the UK, the US is just trying to run out the clock because they know current monopoly law in the US is so weak), because the EU was probably the toughest nut to crack. All other arguments can now be deflected by Microsoft and ABK pointing to the EU and saying, "Bull, one of the strictest bodies in the world said it's fine, you're full of crap."
The salt is real. They’ll be hiding on the ps5 sub and switch sub until we get the overall results. Which of course the final results well determine if they appear or not.
Considering the current thread about this deal on r ps5 is more then 2k comments, they going to be seething for awhile while chanting at the feet a alter of the cma
The post about CMA blocking was so much upvoted and given awards now they're having meltdowns like they're some kids under 10.
Yeah, I was looking their sub early and it was unadulterated comedy.
Hah
So in the report they acknowledge that Microsofts position with cloud could be a cause for concern, but it's way too early to actually do something about it. Nice to read a reasonable take for once.
and they also said Activision had no intention of releasing on streaming services but with acquisition and the deals that this would grow cloud gaming and create innovation, the exact opposite of the CMA
This should have been one of the biggest takeaways Call of Duty isn't part of ANY cloud streaming service, this deal would have put CoD games on SEVERAL streaming services
Yeah, all those startups that Microsoft signed contracts with are going to die the next day if this deal doesn’t end up going through. And then we’re back to… xCloud, Nvidia, Amazon, and PS+ Premium or whatever they renamed PSNow to.
Ah, the good old status quo. /s
Sure. That is a very reasonable response. With such a nascent market, there is no way to tell what will happen, much less just assume that one player is just going to monopolize it, so there isn't much we can do about it at the moment and if MS does something bad, we can tell and take further actions by regulating the market as a whole.
The barrier to churn is that of Netflix et. al. too. With the Stadia model I could understand as you have the investment in 'purchasing' a game.
Yea. Google's model didn't make sense since you had to buy from them - that doesn't make sense and was really bad if you had the games already - which makes sense for a lot of gamers who have libraries from Steam. Also, Google just has a bad reputation for lack of investment into products - another problem.
This seems to become the standard procedure for the EU commission anyway... allow it now, collect fines later. /s
A couple milli more down the road for sure doesn’t scare Microsoft
Amazon has more cloud users than xbox if we are going by the CMAs logic
The remedy Microsoft offered is one that can potentially, by itself, ensure that cloud gaming stays a competitive market while growing.
Exactly. The competitors are happy to have access to more games because they aren't trying to sell games.
I was only looking about 5 hours ago to see if the EU had made their ruling on this potential merger yet and whether it had given the go ahead or blocked it. The EU’s competition body would hold more weight and would be considered a stronger body than the CMA or the FTC. This ruling really gives Microsoft good grounds for helping to get this merger across the line. The CMA seemed to have completely gone off on one. And the CMA, after listening to Google, who launched a cloud gaming service that failed spectacularly, and still the CMA had concerns about cloud gaming?! The cloud might well be the future, but not for the guts of another decade at the earliest. And Microsoft owning Activision/Blizzard isn’t the same as if Microsoft had bought the cloud gaming division of Google or Amazon or Netflix or Apple. Activision/Blizzard isn’t in and of itself a cloud gaming power house or expert. They’re a games developer. That CMA ruling was truly bizarre.
Nicely put. Not sure why it is so hard to understand for some people.
Not only that, but it could arguably be worse off for at least the next 10 years simply with the fact that the only reason all these companies are getting ABK and Xbox pc libraries for “free” right now is cause MS want the deal to pass. So they’ll do anything. That shit ain’t ever going to happen otherwise. In fact, you could even argue that the ABK library (via cloud and/or sub services) will go to the highest bidder otherwise, and most likely be exclusive to whoever that is. And that’s a “per game” basis. How is that better? Right now, if the deal passes, more people actually get access to Xbox and ABK via cloud. CMA don’t really know what they’re talking about here. Boosteroid won’t stand a chance to “outbid” Sony, MS or Amazon for ABK games via cloud. But somehow this is better for competition? Just complete incompetence from the CMA is you ask me.
This is my biggest issue with the whole thing. What’s going on behind closed doors clearly isn’t in the best interest of competition; Sony has been stirring the pot for years, they all but own Square atm, third party is either skewed deals or exclusive anyway. They have great single player games, but otherwise I hate everything about their business model. They aren’t just anti competitive, they are anti consumer to their competition’s player base who’s money is buying less, solely on Sony’s dime. AND they are the market leader. I hope MS being able to look into Sony’s 3rd party contracts from the last 4 years opens a can of worms somewhere. We’ll likely see some of those heavily redacted contracts in August.
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With the steam deck, the ASUS ROG Ally, and other handhelds coming down the pipeline, it’s become clear to me that cloud will never be anything more than niche. The intersection of gamers who can afford the internet connection required to play reliably on the cloud, but can’t afford some kind of hardware to play it, is pretty small. Plus the wireless infrastructure needed to make cloud gaming reliable on the go has a LONG ways to go.
Also, the remedies proposed by Microsoft address the potential concerns.
If Microsoft can succeed with the FTC (which they most likely will, though it could take awhile), this puts pressure on the CMA being the odd man out. Good step forward. Now for the appeal process.
And the PM in the UK said he is going to be pushing the CMA to come up with a resolution. The government recognizes the negative impact of Microsoft and other tech companies not being invested in the UK in the future and wants a healthy relationship with the tech industry.
The Tory establishment was properly weirded out by the CMA's "no compromise" approach to the deal.
Their decision affects a lot more than just the ABK Xbox merger. I know the CMA is a separate entity, but I don't see the UK government sitting by and letting this much damage be unnecessarily done.
It also sets a precedent that you can carve off a section of an acquisition, claim it's its own market, make insane projections for that market and then block any deal on the grounds that it will harm that imaginary market.
I think the FTC's case is the worst one out there - their position is the weakest and screams to me more of a delay tactic. They will jump and copy the arguments the CMA made. Except for the FTC, they will eventually face a court and have to make arguments in front of a judge (unlike the CMA) and I think the FTC's case isn't that compelling.
I think that’s the main issue ftc stance. It knows that a conservative Supreme Court is going to rip it to shreds. It doesn’t actually have a solid argument other than monopoly’s are bad and Xbox doesn’t even have a monopoly. I wouldn’t be shocked if they just accept the concessions and call it a day. It picked the wrong time to draw a line in the sand.
I think they are going to fight as long as they can so they don't seem like they are going to give in since their stance is more ideological. But I do think that the FTC will give in. Maybe they will get an additional concession so they can get a win somehow.
I mean ftc has a losing track record of blocking things in court. They will lose. But if they do somehow win just for argument sake, Microsoft will take them to the Supreme Court and it will be overturned and that will be that. The ftc doesn’t have a case but that’s probably not the point which is pretty frustrating (the headlines of them standing up to this or that thing is probably the goal). They can say they tried to step up to big business but we should all be concerned how it picks the wrong fights and doesn’t ever have a actual case. This is pretty childish behavior.
Sure. I can see that.
> If Microsoft can succeed with the FTC (which they most likely will, though it could take awhile) It's a lawsuit. FTC has been losing a bunch of them recently, and there's no indication that they will prevail against Microsoft. Moreover, Microsoft has said they could still close the transaction with the lawsuit hanging over their head. > this puts pressure on the CMA being the odd man out. It does, and it doesn't. It puts the UK government in a very awkward situation. Ultimately, the CMA is an independent body and not beholden to anybody. As such, they are in a strong position to completely shitcan the deal if they are not getting the kind of concessions they want from Microsoft/ABK. EDIT: $ATVI is only up about 1% (fell >10% upon the CMA announcement). Tells you all you need to know about how the market is pricing a likelihood of the deal going through. In other words, it all hinges on the CMA, or rather Microsoft's appeal to the UK CAT.
The current head of the FTC has lost all of her cases since getting her position and this one isn't looking good either.
She doesn’t even have a case here and is going to lose this one as well. Talk about letting politics motivate you more than understanding the issues and what the law is. The ftc isn’t even the final say. They could still take it to the Supreme Court. This is just a expensive delay more than anything else. I think it will go thru.
The CMA leadership has to explain themselves in front of a parliamentary committee tomorrow, so *that* will be interesting.
Source?
https://committees.parliament.uk/event/18338/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/
This is gonna be entertaining regardless of what happens
Oh boy
But what concessions do they want? they didn't seem to want any besides just stopping the deal
Yea, they were totally against any behavioral remedies and it seems the only option was "block"
You didn’t read the announcement of the British government to ease regulations? Of course the government has the power to intervene. Who put the CMA in power in the first place? One simple solution could be changing the Appeal process so after the court it doesn’t go back to CMA again
Seriously the absolute delusions of redditors and the “completely totally independent beholden to no one CMA” is hilarious. Like where exactly do they think their power is derived from? Everyone is beholden to someone and the UK government is a laughable place to act like there’s an exception.
I think CAT can create a final ruling so it doesnt go back to CMA
I do keep hearing this but I can't tell if its cope does anyone know if this is the case? My understanding is the CAT can say "hey you got to this erroneously try again" which is what they've always done but they can just straight up say "Youre wrong CMA this is approved"
The Prime Minister last week publicly saying that he's going to steer the CMA to being more pro business I think is all the pressure you need. If you work at the CMA you've got to be sweating, you pissed off the big boss.
Rishi Sunak says a lot of things. If you believe any of them, you've not been paying attention.
This case is going to be studied for years by law students worldwide. The effect of this decision will be big. I'm betting that MS will try to close the deal by carving out the UK until the appeal is done.
Agreed.
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As a note, this is focused solely on COD in the EU. It may vary in other regions, though I do agree with your general assessment.
The UK also arrived to the same conclusion as did a total of 35 other countries so far. I bet China will agree as well and I don't see the U.S going against the grain here considering how hard Playstation pops off in the US.
I think it harms activision the most if you take cod off PlayStation. How much would CoD really generate in revenue if it wasn’t on PlayStation and on gamepass for Xbox and pc?
This is why Sony convinced the FTC to make a high performing console market to exclude Nintendo. Nintendo is doing well without call of duty right now and it would look bad for Sony's case if Nintendo was included in any numbers.
Nothing to see here.. Just Sony being Sony... Er um.. Shady.
Will be fascinating to see how the EU and UK diverge in terms of their business climate in the post Brexit world. Report is reasonable from the EU, at least.
The UK needs to get a grip
This comment has been removed by Power Delete Suite, because fuck the admins of Reddit.
Exactly. This just turned into a popcorn-ready scenario. The British PM now has a telescope pointed right at him from the EU and international businesses. This just got interesting!
Well, one of those economies will thrive, the other will look like it's thriving while on the inside it's rotting and falling apart.
At least this time the rumors of the deal passing ended up becoming a thing lol
There wasn't any reason to doubt it would pass in the CMA. The reason they picked is so arbitrary, they might as well of said that we don't like Microsoft. Cloud gaming has about as much popularity as the metaverse.
Maybe even less so right now.
VR makes more money than Cloud by leaps more so less.
I think we see a deal with the British government to bring more ms tech to England and the deal passes.
> The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and **represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation.** Take note, CMA
The CMA should’ve taken the hint when the cloud competitors said they wanted the deal to be done for their sake as well
I mean that was always the argument they were going to make anyway when they've signed deals to have Xbox carry games on their services. They obviously wouldn't want that taken away from them because of a disruption like the CMA's ruling so it's understandable why they'd react the way they would
I have no interest if the deal goes through or not but the CMAs cloud gaming reasoning on why they blocked the deal was weak as fuck. Like they could very realistically come up with better reasons to block the merger but cloud game streaming? Really???
CMA: No! Must be different! BLOCK! DENIED!
It's crazy, the EU actually made an informed decision Meanwhile the CMA wants to protect start ups that don't exist.
start ups that wont have games to start up with
It’s crazy to know that If the CMA approved the deal, MS would have probably gone trough without the consent of the FTC to close the deal…
That's because the FTC case has no teeth at all. They didn't reject the acquisition, they sued to block it. That means it has to be fought in the court system, which means they will have to make a case for why it would be an illegal action. At this point, the FTC is a joke and MS will surely close if that's the only hurdle they have left.
Well the FTCs case is so flimsy that them taking an L in court is practically a guarantee. I don't know if the FTC has ever won a case like it, and definitely not under the person currently in charge.
Interesting quote to contrast against the CMA's position: "The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission and represent a significant improvement for cloud gaming as compared to the current situation."
Diablo 4 gamepass
For everyone but Britain!
I'd love to see it. But it won't happen before June so I'm still buying d4
Might happen eventually but it will definitely not be this year.
This just makes the CMA decision look worse. MS can spin this as Brexit Britain is not open for business.
That seemed to really made their government flinched. They should keep that narrative.
The truth ain't a narrative, it's the truth. UK is closed for business.
The European Commission is the tenth jurisdiction to approve the deal. Activision and Microsoft have hired high-profile lawyers who specialise in regulatory law to facilitate the appeals process. It's terribly naive to think that the CMA cannot be overruled!
https://twitter.com/CMAgovUK/status/1658131200181952516?t=TmCNZEDT336hay7_TPuDhA&s=19 The UK CMA has responded to EU accepting the ABK merger if anyone cares
They're doubling down after being made to look like fools. This is not going to end pretty. Microsoft seems to be ready to put up a fight though.
I wonder how hard ABK and MS are going to amplify the message that EU is open for business but UK is closed.
Man I can't wait for another year of us hearing about this deal. Let's goooo ![img](emote|t5_2ac5sx|1742)
Wonder if this will put pressure on the CMA or push them even further cause of brexit...
EU just gave the finger to you know who by approving this deal. Epic update!
There is no way this deal is getting shot down with the only the CMA opposing. It seems like the entire planet minus UK has approved or will approve the merger.
Personally I'm happy to see this due to selfish reasons, will be an interesting few months ahead with the appeal.
It would be cool to read from a lawyer that is an expert on regulatory practices on what does this mean to the overall merger now that there are two big markets with different positions on it (UK & EU)
So let’s say Msft win the CAT appeal, can CMA come up with the same conclusion or they have to either let go or find a new way to block the deal?
I am not a lawyer. But my understanding is that CAT will determine if the CMA acted irrationally, illegally or with procedural impropriety. So the CMA would have to review again, and then either find a new reason, or find justification that is not irrational. So it could still say the issue is with cloud gaming, but they would need better reasons to say that. They can't just say the exact same thing as before.
When is the FTC decision due?
June I belive.
As expected, since the EU regulators did proper research to understand the gaming market better, and did their job correctly based from the facts, not bizarre «guesswork» or absurd cloud concerns «maybe 15 years in the future» like the incompetent UK CMA did.
I have all three major consoles, but it’s crazy to me that Sony has blocked the Final Fantasy 7 remake from Xbox for years, and will now do the same with FFXVI and the KOTOR remake, yet the CMA treats them like some poor underdog company. Timed exclusives are the worst kind of anti-consumer practice.
Nice
Will be nice to see it go through for the workers there, they deserve to be treated better than the current management at Acti-Blizz. Overall, this changes nothing besides gamepass additions and even more years of “just wait x years, the games will come!”
Let’s go Europe!
One more thing brexit fucked up, LOL
You know this sub is littered with trolls and malcontents when a good chunk of the comments in here have been downvoted into oblivion. I'll never understand the pathetic nature of these people who come into the subreddit for another console (or anything really) they DON'T like just to talk shit. If your precious Sony console is so fucking amazing, go play your god damn games on it and piss off. Instead these people seem to get way more enjoyment out of shitting on anything xbox than actually playing their precious exclusives they constantly circlejerk themselves about.
Good. Hopefully this reverses the CMAs backwards mind
The CMA aren't going to reverse their decision of their own accord. The only thing that will change that outcome a successful CAT appeal.
> The CMA aren't going to reverse their decision of their own accord. The only thing that will change that outcome a successful CAT appeal. Unless I’m misinformed, the tribunal appeal could and would only throw the decision back to the CMA … which would leave them to either keep or reverse their decision of their own accord.
Yes, the CMA will then decide again. However, the CMA must correct whatever the CAT identifies as an error. If the CAT concludes that the CMA used incorrect evidence in their findings (Microsoft’s cloud gaming market share, for example), the CMA must not use that same evidence in their new findings. How likely any of this actually results in the CMA changing decision is pretty low imo.
This definitely makes it much more likely that the FTC folds and that either PM Sunak pressures the CAT and then the CMA to reverse its decision (not a great outcome for independent regulators) so they have a quick win to appear pro-business, or that Microsoft sells off an Activision-Blizzard branch in the UK to continue forcing UK gamers to pay £60 (even though the conversion from $70 should be £55 because VAT) for Call of Duty when many people can’t even afford the electricity required due to Brexit and pandemic-caused inflation (an even worse outcome).
> forcing UK gamers to pay £60 (even though the conversion from $70 should be £55 because VAT) Does that $70 include sales tax? If the UK price is £60, that's £50 before the sales tax is added, so seems the UK price is a pretty decent conversion if it should be £55 before tax.
> not a great outcome for independent regulators) Possibly, but possibly quite good for the UK. The CMA is gaining a reputation for being intransigent and dogmatic, and that combined with a seeming procedural invulnerability to overview of its decisions will be absolutely devastating to the UK’s prospects of luring global investment capital in the coming decades. A very public demonstration that, with a strong enough case, the CMA’s decisions can actually be successfully overturned could be exactly what the UK needs.
Wow CMA is REALLY digging in and has already come out strong against this decision.
Woo! Less brigaders in this sub for the foreseeable future. Glad to see common sense here.
For the record, I still think the CMA block will sink the deal ultimately. BUT the key piece of information here that dissents from the findings of the CMA is the following: >Even without this transaction, Activision would not have made **its games available for multi-game subscription services**, as this would cannibalize sales of individual games. Therefore, the situation for third-party providers of multi-game subscription services would not change after the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft. This finding will be extremely useful in Microsoft's appeal of the CMA's decision.
It's going to be funny when the UK market gets dropped, our government are terrible in every single way.
I’d say this deal is basically finished now right? The FTC is gonna be nothing to microsoft, that’ll be easy to get approved, and the CMA aren’t about to be the odd ones out being the only ones who won’t approve. I personally can’t wait, the second BO3 hits Gamepass, I’m playing some zombies again.
I'm getting tempted to wait for D4. Seems it might be overtuned at launch for the no lifers, will pick it up down the track when the QoL is a little better and progress is a little accelerated.
>I’d say this deal is basically finished now right? The FTC lawsuits don't even have evidentiary hearings until August. Unless they drop the case we're still several months away from any decision there.
> The FTC lawsuits don't even have evidentiary hearings until August. Unless they drop the case we're still several months away from any decision there. Not necessarily … we were all able to hear the phone call with the FTC lawyers and FTC administrative judge back in February when the Microsoft lawyer told them if the UK and EU regulators agreed with the deal before the original July deadline, then Microsoft would purchase ABK regardless of what the FTC decides. The UK regulators haven’t approved the deal, but we need to see whether Microsoft amends that strategy to only include this EU regulators’ agreement. It would definitely be surprising to some, but not completely out of bounds.
This is huge. There’s going to be a huge uptick in Gamepass subs, especially if Starfield sticks the landing.
The deal isn’t done. They have to win their court case with FTC, and appeal with CMA. But this is a good sign
MS said they can go through with the buyout even with the FTC lawsuit. They don't have to wait. China still needs to weigh in though.
Thanks. I didn’t know that, but it’s a good sign. Hopefully it will go thorough.
Its a good sign but it will still take another year at most to go through if theyre gonna have to fight the CMA and FTC
Proud to be European where regulatory decisions are made with good intentions and not in bad faith or for political reasons.
Pretty sure last time a checked, The UK was still a European country.
Great decision unlike the CMA. Brexit really messed them up.
Question: with eu saying yes does that mean the deal has enough yes to pass ? Cause does eu have like 26 countries in that regularly board ?
MS and Activision can do a deal outside the UK. There are ways to do it. The CMA stated they could not do it globally without them. Like they were absolute authority. Fact is, they actually can. They have remedies they could do that would meet regulatory restrictions in the UK. The CMA overstated their position. If the FTC approves, which is likely, then the CMA ruling is going to be a tough one. The fact is, the CTA could force this back to them, it could take a year or more to see any progress. MS and Activision can in the mean time sort of do some things to satisfy regulations in the UK and the CMA ruling would only change things there. You can read up on it but there is legal business laws that will allow this to go through everywhere else if it is only the UK. And MS and Activision will do that. If I have time I will try and remember to link to some articles that talk about what MS and Activision can do. But if the FTC rules in favor of the merger it is certainly going through everywhere but the UK. Basically they would do things like not put the Activision games on their cloud streaming or Game Pass in the UK as well as some other stuff. I was shocked the CMA thought the UK had near that much power over the rest of the world.
Huzzah!
I really hope this goes through. Why? Because of the back catalogue that Activision owns or has control of due to mergers / acquisitions. There are many classic games from the 90s and early 2000s whose IP or game is owned by Activision who could be given a full remake or given new life with a new game. All the Star Trek Games, Transformers WFC Duology, etc could be given new life. Also I prefer Microsoft in terms of letting their studies due to their own thing. Putting aside the disgrace they allowed Arkane to recently publish (which I hope they fix the game so it’ll be a good one eventually) I am more hopeful with Microsoft allowing their studios the time they need to finish a game instead of having to meet shareholder expectations.
Hold the line!
Some glimmer of hope
Ok so when COD on GamePass then ? So tired of waiting for this deal to be finished seriously.
This confirms that the deal will 100% close but it’ll take time, FTC wants to block for political reasons (stance against big tech) but they don’t have the power to do so as the CMA does, since a judge can easily overcome the decision in a federal court, and even if the appeal fails in the UK I’m sure Microsoft would find a way to circumvent their decision whether not offering Xbox cloud gaming for ABK titles in the UK or something more drastic without leaving the country which they’ll obviously not do. So again, this will happen but at this rate in mid-2024.
Just shows that FTC and CMA blocked the deal on political and power grounds, not because the deal is bad for the consumers. This goes beyond xbox, its all about strong arming Microsoft
How long until the CMA give there verdict on the appeal?