• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

Do you believe the deal will be approved?

  • Yes, will be approved without changes.

    Votes: 221 24.9%

  • Yes, will be approved but with structural changes to ABK.

    Votes: 102 11.5%

  • Yes, will be approved but only with behavioral concessions.

    Votes: 262 29.6%

  • No, will not be approved.

    Votes: 301 34.0%
  • Total voters
    886
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.
splattered

splattered

Member
Topher said:
Nah, doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

Glad I didn't try to go find the comments people made to me saying Sony isn't being investigated so they won't have to provide documents, will never happen, etc while I was out yesterday running errands... You just gotta go peek the other thread now to see all the comments haha
 
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
PropellerEar said:
I thought you're all BuGaga about good Zoom levels...
damn that's not working for you either.
Click to expand...



Please for goodness sake resize your images next time.


Negative Juju:

4Q5MRZw.png




Positive overcoming:

Lei3TWm.png
 
DeepEnigma

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
DryvBy said:
Their problem is they have Phil Spencer and a horrible group of management that does the "hello fellow gamers" and has their fanbase think they're struggling due to big corporate bullies out there. They have more studios than Nintendo and Sony get produce less content. And when Microsoft can't win, they have a tendency to buy competition than compete.

If they're allowed to buy up yet another publisher this time, what's to stop them in 2 more years buying up yet another publisher? Are the same people cheering this on going to cheer on another big deal? Yes. Because they don't care if they feel it makes their team win.
Click to expand...
Facts.
 
Astray

Astray

Member
Kilau said:
Yeah I know. A narrative is that the deal would have been approved no problem if Sony hadn't objected. That thought raises a lot of other questions for me.
Click to expand...
Microsoft wants everyone to think about Sony so we can all ignore what this transaction does to the rest of the gaming ecosystem. I legitimately don't think people are prepared for how seismic the shift would be if this deal is approved.
 
T4keD0wN

T4keD0wN

Member
gothmog said:
It's just normal discovery. Sony first asked for time and then tried to get some of it limited/eliminated. They were partially successful. Earlier when this just started I remember reading that some of these discovery efforts are just expensive, so limiting the scope was probably the right move. Finding documentation from 2012 until now is expensive. Finding it from 2019 on probably is still expensive but not as expensive as going into deeper archives. Most companies don't even have records going back that long.

Still not seeing what backfired. Too many people think this is some kind of Ace Attorney episode or something with gotchas? This is pretty normal legal stuff around discovery.
Click to expand...
Its normal, theres nothing hyperspecial or complicated about the action/procedure itself. Dont know where you got that idea from, ive never claimed otherwise. Its the fact that its happening and the entire buildup as to why thats funny.
 
Last edited:
Thirty7ven

Thirty7ven

Banned
Ogbert said:
One main thing I would say. Regulators haven’t got a fucking clue. That’s not a professional lament; rather, if the US is anything like the EU and UK, they’re stocked with junior lawyers that barely understand the industry.
Click to expand...

The rest aside on what basis can you even argue this? And just exactly what kind of education do you have on the subject to assume such a thing?

What are the odds that you’re the one who doesn’t have a clue about the industry?
 
Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Astray said:
Microsoft wants everyone to think about Sony so we can all ignore what this transaction does to the rest of the gaming ecosystem. I legitimately don't think people are prepared for how seismic the shift would be if this deal is approved.
Click to expand...
Seismic sure is a scary word. I'm convinced.
 
poppabk

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Astray said:
Microsoft wants everyone to think about Sony so we can all ignore what this transaction does to the rest of the gaming ecosystem. I legitimately don't think people are prepared for how seismic the shift would be if this deal is approved.
Click to expand...
I don't expect much to change at all if this deal is approved. What seismic shift are we expecting?
 
FalsettoVibe

FalsettoVibe

Member
T4keD0wN said:
I doubt MS would have made this request let alone been granted a part of it by the FTC if Sony werent attemting to persuade the FTC to block the deal and having to back up their arguments somehow. Theyve made the request in response to sony attempting to block it. Had they not done that this never would have happened.

Sony isnt attempting to purchase ABK or Microsoft nor are they the ones being purchased by either of those 2. Sony doesnt own Microsoft nor ABK.
They are nothing but a third party in this deal.

You may want to claim that they have some legally binding contracts with ABK, so? Those would still be valid even once they will be acquired and ABK. The fact that ABK will gain a parent company wont change that, they cant suddenly break them (unless the agreement somehow allow it, which i doubt) without paying hefty fines. This makes effectively no difference to any of their deals that are currently in effect, merely their potential future ones. Safe to say there wont be any, but the possibility exists so it doesnt count.

This isnt that much about being a win for MS and more about being a leopards ate my face for Sony. Pretty clear that they were never going to get performance reviews. MS requests were ridiculous to begin with and to see them getting anything is crazy. Always best to make ridiculous requests so that getting 3 years seems like a small deal by comparison, they mightve gotten 5 years had they asked to see 20years instead. Pretty weird to see FTC allow this, they shouldve told Microsoft to eat dirt tbh, but its hilarious that they didnt.
Click to expand...

Sony makes a crap ton of money from CoD sales. They are 100% obligated to their shareholders to object to any threat that possibly removes it from their platform whether it be today or 10 years from today.
That's how business works. You cannot pretend that Sony should absolutely have zero interest in this deal........that's silly.
 
Last edited:
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
reksveks said:
every now and again, i do try and go back to see how badly my comments have aged.
Click to expand...

To be fair we all thought it would be a slam dunk lol in half a year, MS lawyers had foresight hence they gave it a generous mid 2023 timeline.

It even made poor ass of can change his avatar for the first time.
 
Last edited:
Thirty7ven

Thirty7ven

Banned
People who argue that Sony having an easier time negotiating timed exclusives on the basis of their market share is anti competitive have no clue.

It’s as easy as a third party not being willing to risk a big percentage of revenue just to be exclusive to a smaller consumer base. Sony doesn’t force anything, people who say they do are ignorant as they come.

Anti competitive is MS introducing teams for free in their office suite and in one full swoop endangering slack.
 
Last edited:
Astray

Astray

Member
poppabk said:
I don't expect much to change at all if this deal is approved. What seismic shift are we expecting?
Click to expand...
Think about it, even if Sony accepts the current offer (all of ABK stuff for 10 years), that means +%70 of all their revenues go to Microsoft, which essentially means that they managed to successfully monetize Sony's audience, what exactly will MS do with all that revenue? The sky is clearly the limit here.

Not to mention them potentially taking it exclusive after the contract lapses, or even saying fuck it and breaking it outright.
 
Mr.Phoenix

Mr.Phoenix

Member
poppabk said:
I don't expect much to change at all if this deal is approved. What seismic shift are we expecting?
Click to expand...
Have you ever wondered, how in almost 3 decades, nothing as unprecedented as this has ever happened?

Ever wondered why BIG thriving publishers with multiple successful IPs in rotation have never been acquired by a platform holder? And now two publishers are almost acquired in the space of 12 months by one platform holder?

Considered the fact that the amount of money MS is using to acquire Activision,is more money in gaming profits than sony and Nintendo have made....combined, over the last 5 years?

Still don't expect anything to change?
 
Q

quest

Not Banned from OT
StealthGoblin said:
Sony aren’t the ones spending 10s of billions for multiple studios and IP.

‘Hey that guy punched that other guy’

‘Okay, we’ll investigate that but we also need to go back through your history to make sure you haven’t punched anyone too’

Odd
Click to expand...
No they are only using market dominance to get cheap deals to take away content from competitors. I know one favors your plastic box so totally cool. The other omfg i am missing out on the first major studio game in a near a decade thats bullshit everything needs to be on my plastic box. Sony is aggressively trying to content starve the competition. The only economical way to fight back is to aquire assests.

www.neogaf.com

Report: Sony Contacted All Major Third Parties for Exclusivity Deals, Offered More Money Than Microsoft

Report: Sony Contacted All Major Third Parties for Exclusivity Deals, Offered More Money Than Microsoft Kinda Funny’s Imran Khan said: There isn’t a major third party out there Sony failed to approach asking what kind of deals they could work out. Some had content, some had games, some had...
www.neogaf.com www.neogaf.com
 
Ogbert

Ogbert

Member
Thirty7ven said:
The rest aside on what basis can you even argue this? And just exactly what kind of education do you have on the subject to assume such a thing?

What are the odds that you’re the one who doesn’t have a clue about the industry?
Click to expand...
Eh?

It’s an exceedingly difficult section to staff. To find legally qualified individuals that have a robust knowledge of the area being regulated is rare. Regulators themselves pay significantly (to the factor of two or three) less than in house firms, so there’s a strange dynamic where regulators have under experienced staff and then the in house lawyers (like me) have to farm out work to external counsel, to provide legal advice that is often detached from the commercial reality.

In terms of the odds of me talking shit, I’d say 5 to 1.

But the odds of you having a microcock are closer to even.
 
Thirty7ven

Thirty7ven

Banned
Astray said:
Think about it, even if Sony accepts the current offer (all of ABK stuff for 10 years), that means +%70 of all their revenues go to Microsoft, which essentially means that they managed to successfully monetize Sony's audience, what exactly will MS do with all that revenue? The sky is clearly the limit here.

Not to mention them potentially taking it exclusive after the contract lapses, or even saying fuck it and breaking it outright.
Click to expand...

A decade is a really long time. It basically includes PS6 in the equation.

For PlayStation that’s about as fair a guarantee you can get. It’s hard to argue against that, you can argue the principle of MS’s actions but I can’t argue much more than that.

A decade for Sony to make moves? That’s a long ass time. If they don’t go out there and secure their own sw revenue streams by way of doing their own acquisitions then I’m sorry but Sony is looking for an easy ride and that’s just not how it works.
 
RedC

RedC

Member
Astray said:
Think about it, even if Sony accepts the current offer (all of ABK stuff for 10 years), that means +%70 of all their revenues go to Microsoft, which essentially means that they managed to successfully monetize Sony's audience, what exactly will MS do with all that revenue? The sky is clearly the limit here.

Not to mention them potentially taking it exclusive after the contract lapses, or even saying fuck it and breaking it outright.
Click to expand...
I believe the current offer is 10 years for COD not all of ABK stuff.
 
The_Mike

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
Mr.Phoenix said:
I don't think paying for exclusives, marketing rights or even content is even remotely in the same ball park as buying pushers and all their IPs.
Click to expand...
Time will tell if future games and IPs from Bungie will become exclusives.
Sony is more locked than Microsoft in regarding sharing.
StealthGoblin said:
Sony aren’t the ones spending 10s of billions for multiple studios and IP.

‘Hey that guy punched that other guy’

‘Okay, we’ll investigate that but we also need to go back through your history to make sure you haven’t punched anyone too’

Odd
Click to expand...
It's also quite hard for Sony to spend billions when they don't have it.

When Activision Blizzard wanted to get bought and accepted offers, Sony could have gotten with an offer.
Oh, that's right. They couldn't afford it.

If they could they would have bid in.
Thinking anything else is naive and fanboy tunnel vision.

Microsoft could do it, Sony wished they could have afforded to do it.
 
Astray

Astray

Member
Thirty7ven said:
A decade is a really long time. It basically includes PS6 in the equation.

For PlayStation that’s about as fair a guarantee you can get. It’s hard to argue against that, you can argue the principle of MS’s actions but I can’t argue much more than that.

A decade for Sony to make moves? That’s a long ass time. If they don’t go out there and secure their own sw revenue streams by way of doing their own acquisitions then I’m sorry but Sony is looking for an easy ride and that’s just not how it works.
Click to expand...
You gotta keep in mind that until a week ago, 10 years of COD was "more than fair", before that, 3 years of COD was "more than fair". It's ultimately no sweat off my back who wins (I made a point to vary my digital library across platforms), but I sure find it funny how Microsoft's latest offer is always widely perceived as "more than fair", until it's not and they have to increase it.

Microsoft has successfully distorted reality into not only perceiving it as an underdog in a fight with a company that is less than 1/10th its market cap, it has also made people perceive it as an up-and-coming benevolent monopoly. That's an insane PR success in my books.
 
Thirty7ven

Thirty7ven

Banned
Ogbert said:
But the odds of you having a microcock are closer to even.
Click to expand...

Well that just sounds like a small minded insult by an insecure little man projecting his biggest fear in life, that a woman will be even odds to find his cock micro. Or a man of course.
 
Last edited:
Mr Moose

Mr Moose

Member
quest said:
No they are only using market dominance to get cheap deals to take away content from competitors. I know one favors your plastic box so totally cool. The other omfg i am missing out on the first major studio game in a near a decade thats bullshit everything needs to be on my plastic box. Sony is aggressively trying to content starve the competition. The only economical way to fight back is to aquire assests.

www.neogaf.com

Report: Sony Contacted All Major Third Parties for Exclusivity Deals, Offered More Money Than Microsoft

Report: Sony Contacted All Major Third Parties for Exclusivity Deals, Offered More Money Than Microsoft Kinda Funny’s Imran Khan said: There isn’t a major third party out there Sony failed to approach asking what kind of deals they could work out. Some had content, some had games, some had...
www.neogaf.com www.neogaf.com
Click to expand...
You should've read the title.
Offered More Money Than Microsoft
MS were trying to do it as well, silly Goose.
MS also has timed exclusives right now, guess that doesn't fit though.
 
T4keD0wN

T4keD0wN

Member
FalsettoVibe said:
Sony makes a crap ton of money from CoD sales. They are 100% obligated to their shareholders to object to any threat that possibly removes it from their platform whether it be today or 10 years from today.
That's how business works. You cannot pretend that Sony should has absolutely have zero interest in this deal........that's silly.
Click to expand...
Duh, they dont want comptetiton. No company wants competiton, they all want a monopoly.
They have deals with ABK, but those are seperate deals from the acquisition one which they are not part of and they arent even affected by it since it doesnt matter if anyone owns ABK, they still have to upkeep all of their active obligations unless they want to face consequences. The one thing it might (even we all know it 100% will, we have to pretend its not certain) affect is the potential of making more deals like that in the future.

I dont blame them one bit for attempting to block, if i were their investor id complain that they arent doing enough. Id make even more objections, there is no lie i wouldnt tell, no law i wouldnt break, anything to get ahead in business since there is no morality in business.
 
Last edited:
Thirty7ven

Thirty7ven

Banned
Astray said:
You gotta keep in mind that until a week ago, 10 years of COD was "more than fair", before that, 3 years of COD was "more than fair". It's ultimately no sweat off my back who wins (I made a point to vary my digital library across platforms), but I sure find it funny how Microsoft's latest offer is always widely perceived as "more than fair", until it's not and they have to increase it.

Microsoft has successfully distorted reality into not only perceiving it as an underdog in a fight with a company that is less than 1/10th its market cap, it has also made people perceive it as an up-and-coming benevolent monopoly. That's an insane PR success in my books.
Click to expand...

MS’s identity isn’t on trial here, their history tells it all. But when it comes to this specific topic, certainly it would’ve been anti competitive if the deal went through without remedies, and the whole three years was obviously not enough. But a decade? Come on now. Nvidia gets a deal, Nintendo gets a deal, Sony gets a deal. It’s a completely different ball game now.
 
T

Three

Member
Astray said:
Think about it, even if Sony accepts the current offer (all of ABK stuff for 10 years), that means +%70 of all their revenues go to Microsoft, which essentially means that they managed to successfully monetize Sony's audience, what exactly will MS do with all that revenue? The sky is clearly the limit here.

Not to mention them potentially taking it exclusive after the contract lapses, or even saying fuck it and breaking it outright.
Click to expand...
I don't think they would mind in terms of revenue as long as it doesn't cut theirs. What was funny to me was that even though MS bought Zenimax Sony were out there overselling Deathloop in marketing and shows knowing that 70% of the revenue goes directly to a competitor and they were out there building and marketing an IP where the sequel could be made exclusive to xbox. Then Phil goes out there and says 'PlayStation wants to grow by making Xbox smaller'. Jim must have been standing there thinking

D84HDe5WsAEyBWf
 
S

StealthGoblin

Banned
The_Mike said:
Time will tell if future games and IPs from Bungie will become exclusives.
Sony is more locked than Microsoft in regarding sharing.

It's also quite hard for Sony to spend billions when they don't have it.

When Activision Blizzard wanted to get bought and accepted offers, Sony could have gotten with an offer.
Oh, that's right. They couldn't afford it.

If they could they would have bid in.
Thinking anything else is naive and fanboy tunnel vision.

Microsoft could do it, Sony wished they could have afforded to do it.
Click to expand...
Sony have never bought a publisher with multiplat IP and made it exclusive. They’ve committed several times to Bungie making multiplat games.

So it’s okay for very rich companies to just do what they want? Got it.
 
Ogbert

Ogbert

Member
Thirty7ven said:
Well that just sounds like a small minded insult by an insecure little man projecting his biggest fear in life, that a woman will be even odds to find his cock micro. Or a man of course.
Click to expand...
The odds aren’t ‘even’ that she’ll find your cock. Those odds are much further out - 15/1 at a push.

The even odds are just on the size of your member.

Drafting is important.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Microsoft has Closed the Activision Blizzard King Deal
22 23 24 25 26
1K
91K
MasterCornholio replied
Microsoft now says the CMA was ‘tough and fair’ over Activision Blizzard deal
Opinion Business Game Dev
17
3K
SportsFan581 replied
FTC appeals to block already-completed Microsoft-Activision deal
2
63
7K
Mythoclast replied
  • Locked
UK minister defends CMA's decision to block MS/ABK
News
0
1K
Daniel_Mallorca1985 replied
  • Locked
Microsoft to sell off Activision cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft in bid for UK approval
News Business 2 3 4
154
17K
Spyxos replied
Top Bottom