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Microsoft / Activision Deal Approval Watch |OT| (MS/ABK close)

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


  • Total voters
    886
  • Poll closed .
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Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Oh geez, back on the taxpayer gaslighting. Painfully transparent.
This "taxpayers money" narrative will never fail to make me laugh.

If you want to look at the ways in which taxpayer money is not used appropriately in the US then this really isn't it, especially not in today's geopolitical climate.
Timely reminder to ourselves.

3HBhlOd.jpg
 

NickFire

Member

She's spicey - I bet she'd be a good drinking buddy. And who knows, maybe after a few shots she'd answer the really big questions. Like, why does Diablo's battlepass stop at level 90? Stopping at 90 is just weird. Seriously, who stops counting at 90. 100 is so close this just does not make any sense.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
She's spicey - I bet she'd be a good drinking buddy. And who knows, maybe after a few shots she'd answer the really big questions. Like, why does Diablo's battlepass stop at level 90? Stopping at 90 is just weird. Seriously, who stops counting at 90. 100 is so close this just does not make any sense.
That's for the next battle pass. They are following the 10 levels an update via WoW.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
FTC is cute since they still think they have a remote chance of unwinding this merger...

...really cute. But that's about it.
Considering their "performance" during trial, they have....-10% chance of success.
I think they're just building case law showing how toothless they are as a "regulator." As a lot have been saying this entire time. Hell, what is the point of the FTC when regulation can be handed down or taken away via EO?

That's how FUBAR the system is now.
 

Godot25

Banned
I think they're just building case law showing how toothless they are as a "regulator." As a lot have been saying this entire time. Hell, what is the point of the FTC when regulation can be handed down or taken away via EO?

That's how FUBAR the system is now.
Diving into cases where they have no chance at winning is sure a strategy to convince Republican controller House of something...
...maybe a slash of budget. Which already happened if I remember correctly.
Bold Strategy Cotton GIF by MOODMAN
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Diving into cases where they have no chance at winning is sure a strategy to convince Republican controller House of something...
...maybe a slash of budget. Which already happened if I remember correctly.
Bold Strategy Cotton GIF by MOODMAN
That's exactly why they are doing this. Building a record. And I'm no fan of Khan or the like's personal politics.

But continue to cheer on bipartisan corruption for over 40 years, selling out to the highest bidders. What's the point of the FTC then if that's the case?
 
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Godot25

Banned
That's exactly why they are doing this. Building a record. And I'm no fan of Khan or the like's personal politics.

But continue to cheer on bipartisan corruption for over 40 years, selling out to the highest bidders. What's the point of the FTC then if that's the case?
I have no problem with FTC challenging this deal initially. But when it's clear you will not be successful, it's time to let go.

Especially when you have bigger fish to fry (Amazon)
 

PaintTinJr

Member
I feel like the next scene from the FTC/Lina Khan is giving this vibe, but could get very interesting if the CMA correctly take this Ex-cloud merger to a phase 2 giving the FTC more time.

/edit: obviously the FTC would be the hapless untouchables FBI wasting tax payer money on investigating racketeering, bribes, hits and murder, when it was a job for the mighty IRS.



What do we place the chances of Nvidia buying Ubisoft after the deal closes for their brother Microsoft, to completely subvert all the remedies?
 
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MarkMe2525

Banned
It was more like 18months prior to PS3 IIRC, but had Microsoft not had a strategy to overclock to match the PS3 clock resulting in RRoD by pushing beyond what their own testing showed it could handle before the overclock, and if the Wii hadn't disrupted the market at a perfect time for PS3, giving it time to come through yield and blue diode scarcity issues and get some good games out, it could easily have killed it.

Wii trouncing everything causing Microsoft to shift to Kinect focus probably saved PlayStation that gen, and gave PlayStation a second reboot opportunity (after stereoscopic 3D fade) with then doing PS Move versus Kinect, allowing it to sell just enough to claim a hollow victory in console sales numbers.
It was 12 months, and the PS move was a ton of fun. It was like wii for adults.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Yeah i don't appreciate being gaslit by microsoft and activision. This is the biggest tech acquisition in history? Yeah i want the regulators to take it seriously.

They’ve had their day in court and the case looked really weak. Even more weakened now with the Cloud deal they’ve entered into with the CMA, as well as the 10 year agreement signed with Sony.

What do we place the chances of Nvidia buying Ubisoft after the deal closes for their brother Microsoft, to completely subvert all the remedies?

Then the purchasing party would own the rights to cloud stream Activision content, and MS would still have to pay for cloud access. Zero difference. How would that subvert the remedies in any way?
 
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PaintTinJr

Member
...


Then the purchasing party would own the rights to cloud stream Activision content, and MS would still have to pay for cloud access. Zero difference. How would that subvert the remedies in any way?
Microsoft and Nvidia have been hand-in-glove partners since 3dfx was foreclosed two decades ago by Nvidia with help from massive loans from Microsoft killing the number 1 Windows gaming API (glide) overnight, and through Microsoft locking Opengl to version 1.1(1.4 now) on Windows, unless using extensions from 1.1, they made DirectX the default graphics API for games on Windows, taking it from third to first courtesy of Nvidia being the developer and partner. So I'd argue it has been obvious for decades - along with Nvidia's treatment of Drivers on linux - that both Nvidia and Microsoft share a vision of Nvidia DirectX and Microsoft Windows as the defacto OS for all of Cloud, even beyond gaming, and Nvidia as the monopoly supplier of the graphics cards for the serving..

Nvidia supposedly being the independent pushback of current ATVI just wouldn't ever happen, and would have the ability to work with Microsoft to work around the monitoring, just like whipping boy Ubisoft represents none of the operational independence that a current ATVI exercises in the market.

Just consider that Nvidia's technical, cadence and price issues with Cloud game serving on Windows Server licenses should mirror those the CMA listed of Stadia, and yet Nvidia as DirectX API developer for Windows probably pay nothing like the same for Windows licenses, and can fix any issues they have immediately because they are on the inside of the deal with Microsoft.

Nvidia don't even do native driver support for opengl and vulkan in Windows AFAIK and just do a reverse-proton on their DirectX solution, causing throttled performance for Opengl and Vulkan on Windows compared to linux, and you only need see Nvidia's attitude to linux drivers over the years to be concerned if they are the authority to advocate for CoD on linux using vulkan for the whole cloud gaming market. That's basically everyone, except for hand-in-glove Microsoft and Nvidia
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Microsoft and Nvidia have been hand-in-glove partners since 3dfx was foreclosed two decades ago by Nvidia with help from massive loans from Microsoft killing the number 1 Windows gaming API (glide) overnight, and through Microsoft locking Opengl to version 1.1(1.4 now) on Windows, unless using extensions from 1.1, they made DirectX the default graphics API for games on Windows, taking it from third to first courtesy of Nvidia being the developer and partner. So I'd argue it has been obvious for decades - along with Nvidia's treatment of Drivers on linux - that both Nvidia and Microsoft share a vision of Nvidia DirectX and Microsoft Windows as the defacto OS for all of Cloud, even beyond gaming, and Nvidia as the monopoly supplier of the graphics cards for the serving..

Nvidia supposedly being the independent pushback of current ATVI just wouldn't ever happen, and would have the ability to work with Microsoft to work around the monitoring, just like whipping boy Ubisoft represents none of the operational independence that a current ATVI exercises in the market.

Just consider that Nvidia's technical, cadence and price issues with Cloud game serving on Windows Server licenses should mirror those the CMA listed of Stadia, and yet Nvidia as DirectX API developer for Windows probably pay nothing like the same for Windows licenses, and can fix any issues they have immediately because they are on the inside of the deal with Microsoft.

Nvidia don't even do native driver support for opengl and vulkan in Windows AFAIK and just do a reverse-proton on their DirectX solution, causing throttled performance for Opengl and Vulkan on Windows compared to linux, and you only need see Nvidia's attitude to linux drivers over the years to be concerned if they are the authority to advocate for CoD on linux using vulkan for the whole cloud gaming market. That's basically everyone, except for hand-in-glove Microsoft and Nvidia


None of this is any relevant with respect to your hypothesis. Ubisoft isn’t allowed to give MS a sweetheart deal for streaming rights that it doesn’t extend to other parties, and anyone who purchases Ubisoft would inherit that agreement.

Hope this helps
 

Godot25

Banned
So what’s your play? Spread your butt cheeks and get fucked by the corporate train?
They are clearly getting fucked by corporate train in this case. So what's exactly the difference if they spread their butt cheeks or not?

Or do you really think they have the chance in those case?
 
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Varteras

Gold Member
Starting to think Lina Khan is a masochist. "Yes, daddy! Beat me harder! MORE! Ahem... I mean... your Honor. If I may..."
 

Activision ticked down 0.1% amid a report that the European Commission is still deciding if the $69 billion sale to Microsoft needs to be re-notified with the regulator after its revised remedy with the UK regulator.

EC Deputy Director General for Mergers Guillaume Loriot made the comments at Informa's EU Merger Control 2023 Conference in Brussels, according to a Dealreporter account of the event on Thursday.

The report comes after a Dealreporter item from earlier this month that said the EC won't require Microsoft to re-notify the authority about the Activision deal. Reuters also reported earlier this month that A formal EC investigation into the remedy proposal appears unlikely as Microsoft structured its deal with the UK to include compliance with EC remedies.
 
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