Microsoft is Buying Activision Blizzard $68.7B ***Update: Acquisition Finalized***

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Insane hypothetical, but could MS just ignore the CMA’s position on this by doing something drastic like just stop selling BlizzardActivision and/or Xbox products in the UK?

 

[method115]

Insane hypothetical, but could MS just ignore the CMA’s position on this by doing something drastic like just stop selling BlizzardActivision and/or Xbox products in the UK?

No the contract requires the CMA to agree to the merger.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

No the contract requires the CMA to agree to the merger.

I see. What about Appeal mechanisms? If the CMA says “get fucked” can its decisions be subjected to judicial review or anything like that?

 

[rob mafia]

I see. What about Appeal mechanisms? If the CMA says “get fucked” can its decisions be subjected to judicial review or anything like that?

usually they do, but even then it's more of a technically, yes... but realistically, no kind of a thing. seldom does a company think it's worth appealing an m&a after an active disapproval (versus refiling if it timed out before approval, etc)

I honestly feel like it's mainly blizzard dropping the ball on this. MS and Sony haven't done so bad but Blizzard execs are posting meme's and shit.

tbf, it's basically out of blizzard's hands (and they probably get a payment if the acquisition fails... although, the stock would likely drop much more than the cash covers, at this point). it's essentially up to the acquiring company to argue/negotiate remedies with govts/defend.

as long as bliz execs don't do anything to sabotage or whatever, at least.

 

[rikwebb]

tbf, it's basically out of blizzard's hands (and they probably get a payment if the acquisition fails... although, the stock would likely drop much more than the cash covers, at this point). it's essentially up to the acquiring company to argue/negotiate remedies with govts/defend.

as long as bliz execs don't do anything to sabotage or whatever, at least.

Yeah theres 3 dates all with rising amounts for if the deal fails and amount of cash to be paid to Activision/Blizzard, we've already gone past the first, the next two are:

- April 18th 2023: Start of the 2nd Extension - Termination Fee - £2.5bm

- July 18th 2023: End of the 2nd Extension - Termination fee - $3bn



Sony has thier hearing with the CMA today following Microsoft's last week

 

[Kevster]

It’s actually insane how much weight a fairly decent FPS holds.

 

[method115]

I see. What about Appeal mechanisms? If the CMA says “get fucked” can its decisions be subjected to judicial review or anything like that?

Yea they can appeal to CAT. The problem is what CAT does is tell the CMA something like "hey this doesn't make sense" then it goes back to the CMA. The CMA comes up with new reasoning and their ruling stays the same. The problem for MS is everything circles back to the CMA at the end of an appeal which is part of the reason everyone knew this was going to be the main obstacle.

The CMA doesn't like behavioral remedies (which is the only thing MS is offering) and the appeal process just circles back to them. So it's going to be tough for MS.

 

[mixmastermo]

Sony is giving away Battlefield 2042 to PS Plus users this month.

The cynical part of me thinks it is to prove that even if they give BF away it still can't compete with COD.

 

[KaNesDeath]

Sony is giving away Battlefield 2042 to PS Plus users this month.

The cynical part of me thinks it is to prove that even if they give BF away it still can't compete with COD.

EA/Dice did this with XBox last battlepass season(around Thanksgiving last year). Its something EA/Dice are doing to keep a stable player base because of how badly the game was received at release. Every server in 2042 is a mixture of Playstation, XBox and Pc users. To actually get a game one must enable cross-play.

 

[KaNesDeath]

Yea that's why I just think they should reach out for help with building the game and getting the shooting mechanics right. Don't think that will take up to much of Bungies time. Then let another studio take it from there.

This wont work. The arena shooter and team death match based FPS genres are dead. Base game wont attract the needed audience in the current FPS landscape.

 

[method115]

This wont work. The arena shooter and team death match based FPS genres are dead. Base game wont attract the needed audience in the current FPS landscape.

I do agree they'll have trouble getting anything going but sitting back and doing nothing and just hoping MS doesn't remove COD from Playstation after 10 years doesn't seem like a smart idea either. You at least want something there that your player base can maybe get into. That will maybe be enough to not leave for Xbox.

The thing for Sony is their options are limited here. It's either try to develop an FPS game that will hopefully stop to many people from leaving for Xbox, Do nothing and just hope for the best, or do your best to stop the merger from happening (their current plan). I guess it's possible they could maybe work out a plan with MS to provide a few of their exclusives to xbox in exchange for COD but I honestly think that would be a better deal for Sony than it would be for MS.

 

[mixmastermo]

This wont work. The arena shooter and team death match based FPS genres are dead. Base game wont attract the needed audience in the current FPS landscape.

I do agree they'll have trouble getting anything going but sitting back and doing nothing and just hoping MS doesn't remove COD from Playstation after 10 years doesn't seem like a smart idea either. You at least want something there that your player base can maybe get into. That will maybe be enough to not leave for Xbox.

The thing for Sony is their options are limited here. It's either try to develop an FPS game that will hopefully stop to many people from leaving for Xbox, Do nothing and just hope for the best, or do your best to stop the merger from happening (their current plan). I guess it's possible they could maybe work out a plan with MS to provide a few of their exclusives to xbox in exchange for COD but I honestly think that would be a better deal for Sony than it would be for MS.

Ya'll acting like Guerilla, Insomniac, Resitance and Killzone don't exist.

 

[Michaelangelo]

It’s actually insane how much weight a fairly decent FPS holds

When your FPS hits 30 billion in revenue it’s no longer just a FPS

 

[Valhoven]

UK's CMA has narrowed scope of concerns as it relates to provisional findings on Microsoft's Activision acquisition, it's today reported.

Takeaways at time of writing:

• New evidence provisionally alleviates concerns in relation to supply of gaming consoles in the UK
• Previously stated provisional view that deal raises concerns in cloud gaming unaffected
• Investigation continues, with final report still due by 26 April 2023

Excerpts I think helpful to understand matters at this time:

The most significant new evidence provided to the CMA relates to Microsoft’s financial incentives to make Activision’s games, including Call of Duty (CoD), exclusive to its own consoles. While the CMA’s original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios, new data (which provides better insight into the actual purchasing behaviour of CoD gamers) indicates that this strategy would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario. On this basis, the updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation.

Having considered the additional evidence provided, we have now provisionally concluded that the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in console gaming services because the cost to Microsoft of withholding Call of Duty from PlayStation would outweigh any gains from taking such action.

Our provisional view that this deal raises concerns in the cloud gaming market is not affected by today’s announcement. Our investigation remains on course for completion by the end of April.​

Full read here.

 

[Sycho Sid]

UK's CMA has narrowed scope of concerns as it relates to provisional findings on Microsoft's Activision acquisition, it's today reported.

Takeaways at time of writing:

• New evidence provisionally alleviates concerns in relation to supply of gaming consoles in the UK
• Previously stated provisional view that deal raises concerns in cloud gaming unaffected
• Investigation continues, with final report still due by 26 April 2023

Excerpts I think helpful to understand matters at this time:

The most significant new evidence provided to the CMA relates to Microsoft’s financial incentives to make Activision’s games, including Call of Duty (CoD), exclusive to its own consoles. While the CMA’s original analysis indicated that this strategy would be profitable under most scenarios, new data (which provides better insight into the actual purchasing behaviour of CoD gamers) indicates that this strategy would be significantly loss-making under any plausible scenario. On this basis, the updated analysis now shows that it would not be commercially beneficial to Microsoft to make CoD exclusive to Xbox following the deal, but that Microsoft will instead still have the incentive to continue to make the game available on PlayStation.

Having considered the additional evidence provided, we have now provisionally concluded that the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in console gaming services because the cost to Microsoft of withholding Call of Duty from PlayStation would outweigh any gains from taking such action.

Our provisional view that this deal raises concerns in the cloud gaming market is not affected by today’s announcement. Our investigation remains on course for completion by the end of April.​

Full read here.

Hopefully this shit ends soon for real.

I do like that they pointed out what a lot of us have been saying though, that removing Call of Duty from Playstation is just going to lose them money.

*edit* Not that it will not hurt Playstation as well of course.

 

[method115]

From what I'm reading after these changes the chances of the deal going through are now 80%+. I don't think MS will remove COD from playstation at all anymore though. If they want to continue to acquire more companies they will be under a microscope from here on out now. If they go back on their statements about COD it will be used against them.

 

[Zazen]

From what I'm reading after these changes the chances of the deal going through are now 80%+. I don't think MS will remove COD from playstation at all anymore though. If they want to continue to acquire more companies they will be under a microscope from here on out now. If they go back on their statements about COD it will be used against them.

I hear this a lot but when was a mega corporation actually stopped from merging with someone else? I feel like if you are worth trillions you can just lobby. There’s already an American politician claiming Sony has 98% share of high powered games. Of course she was also paid half a million dollars by Microsoft so we know where her interests lie. I’m just not convinced this stops anything. As someone who has been gaming for three decades I’m just concerned about this consolidation. When will it end? I like to buy games, if the future is subscription services and we only have one choice that might be it for me. I think this changes nothing and EA and others are up for grabs

 

[jefferz]

I hear this a lot but when was a mega corporation actually stopped from merging with someone else? I feel like if you are worth trillions you can just lobby. There’s already an American politician claiming Sony has 98% share of high powered games. Of course she was also paid half a million dollars by Microsoft so we know where her interests lie. I’m just not convinced this stops anything. As someone who has been gaming for three decades I’m just concerned about this consolidation. When will it end? I like to buy games, if the future is subscription services and we only have one choice that might be it for me. I think this changes nothing and EA and others are up for grabs

The Nvidia and ARM deal was stopped by regulators.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

So if CMA is less concerned about COD leaving PS5 what’s this concern about cloud gaming about?

 

[avenue94]

So if CMA is less concerned about COD leaving PS5 what’s this concern about cloud gaming about?

Same thing. Foreclosing games (COD and other Activision title, particularly their mobile stuff) in a nascent market.