Microsoft acquire Activision

Anyone here of a legal background?

American competition law/anti-trust is fairly toothless at the best of times so this isn't surprising, but I still find it strange the court couldnt see any anti competitive behaviour in MS purchasing one of the largest third party developers/publishers in the world.
 
robfosters said:
I think I’m the only one who doesn’t understand all this and why it’s so controversial. Anyone care to explain in layman’s terms, why it’s such a bad thing please?
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Monopolies are never ultimately great for the end-consumer. These companies aren't doing this because they're kind and have best interests at heart with ensuring everyone has access to a wider game library.

This is $70 billion dollar acquisition of one of the biggest companies in video games by one of the biggest companies in tech.

It's controversial because of exactly that - then on the other side, Activision Blizzard has had all sorts of issues (sexual misconduct cases, multiple working practice complaints, huge cultural issues) lately and so many people believe that anything to get rid of Bobby Kotick and the existing Activision Blizzard board would be a great thing!
 
t2na said:
Monopolies are never ultimately great for the end-consumer. These companies aren't doing this because they're kind and have best interests at heart with ensuring everyone has access to a wider game library.

This is $70 billion dollar acquisition of one of the biggest companies in video games by one of the biggest companies in tech.

It's controversial because of exactly that - then on the other side, Activision Blizzard has had all sorts of issues (sexual misconduct cases, multiple working practice complaints, huge cultural issues) lately and so many people believe that anything to get rid of Bobby Kotick and the existing Activision Blizzard board would be a great thing!
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Thanks. They would be very unlikely to pull COD from PS though would they?
 
robfosters said:
Thanks. They would be very unlikely to pull COD from PS though would they?
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A lot of people thought it would be unlikely that they would stop Starfield going to PS - but that appears to be the case.

They've obviously done the value proposition on their side. Is it better for them as a business for people to buy their game, regardless of what console? Ultimately making good sales but never converting those sales to their own console. Or is it better to make the game exclusive to your platform so fewer people play the game, but those that do must own your console or go out to buy the console purely for the purpose of playing that specific game.

Certain console games have always been labelled as 'console-sellers' - and provided your multi-platform games work well then you've got a great base. Halo 3 during the Xbox 360 era, that sold people on getting an Xbox and then it ran COD4/MW2, Assassins Creed games etc. all brilliantly too.

Last Of Us, Uncharted, God of War, Horizon - all games that made the PS4 such an appealing console - and then it ran the COD games and other multiplatform games brilliantly too.
 
robfosters said:
Thanks. They would be very unlikely to pull COD from PS though would they?
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I think it is LIKELY that it will be pulled at some point.

However, from the lawsuit it was revealed that COD earned Sony $800 mil in 2021 (I think?), alone in a single year and Sony didn't even make the game. Now imagine how much Activision made from COD if Sony made $800mil. If you are MS, would you want to cut off that cash flow?

Which is why in the short to medium term, that they made a 10 year promise, makes sense. But 10 years from now, I doubt it will be on Sony's platform. But then who knows, Minecraft is still on all the platforms.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I think it is LIKELY that it will be pulled at some point.

However, from the lawsuit it was revealed that COD earned Sony $800 mil in 2021 (I think?), alone in a single year and Sony didn't even make the game. Now imagine how much Activision made from COD if Sony made $800mil. If you are MS, would you want to cut off that cash flow?

Which is why in the short to medium term, that they made a 10 year promise, makes sense. But 10 years from now, I doubt it will be on Sony's platform. But then who knows, Minecraft is still on all the platforms.
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I thought PlayStation rejected the 10 year deal and their current contract only runs until 2025?
 
random_matt said:
CNBC reports the CMA and MS agreed on a new deal, Xcloud completely removed from the UK (allegedly, have no access to that info if true).
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Lol, that's great for UK consumers then.

I am not sure how this deal does anything to help consumers, or increase competition to cloud gaming as a whole, if true. It just makes the CMA look stupid.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Lol, that's great for UK consumers then.

I am not sure how this deal does anything to help consumers, or increase competition to cloud gaming as a whole, if true. It just makes the CMA look stupid.
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Exactly. It screws British consumers by giving them an inferior service/product compared to other countries. That's not protecting our rights. I can see the CMA receiving lots of complaints from the public if they don't stand down and reverse their decision.
 
Raymond Lin said:
However, from the lawsuit it was revealed that COD earned Sony $800 mil in 2021 (I think?)
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Which is Sony's whole issue with the deal. They think MS will take COD away from PS so they'll lose a load of money. It's got absolutely nothing to do with Sony thinking it's unfair for consumers or any other nonsense they say. It's all about the money.
 
biron_w said:
Which is Sony's whole issue with the deal. They think MS will take COD away from PS so they'll lose a load of money. It's got absolutely nothing to do with Sony thinking it's unfair for consumers or any other nonsense they say. It's all about the money.
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It is unfair on consumers. Monopolies are not good. If you're a consumer who loves Sony first party games, then all of a sudden the largest franchise ever gets taken away from that platform and moves to MS it means if you want to play those games, you then need to buy another console.
I don't mind console manufacturers making their own games and releasing them for their own console, and now even Sony a are putting them out on PC which is great. I am against a company just buying up other devs to make the games exclusive. I mean, is there any competition if MS buy all the big game makers, Sony decide **** it I'm out, and all we are left with is MS? At which point there is no competition. That is communism and not capitalism which we are told is great.

I am surprised that the FTC lost the case tbh and really surprised the EU were supportive of the merger. I think the CMA probably thought at least one of them would stand with them, but I think the CMA will now have to back down and there will be some arbitrary concession made.

I am saying this as someone who owns a PS5 and a PC, and don't play COD so it's going to have little/no impact on me.
 
I really don't understand why why the CMA is choosing to play hardball with Microsoft, Sony are still way out in front in terms of market share.
If this is true about Xcloud being removed from the UK then it show's its just going to be too easy for global companies to ignore the UK going forward if they feel they need to.

Its not a good look for the UK Tech sector going forward
 
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