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Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

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Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#91

Post by ctvo »

reustle wrote: post #17

Will there ever be a point where as a society we agree to put an upper cap on the size of companies? Does Amazon really need to absorb even more? Doesn’t that stifle competition? I understand that enforcement is hard as the rule wouldn’t be global, but still curious.

> Does Amazon really need to absorb even more? Doesn’t that stifle competition?

The burden of proof is on you. How does this stifle competition? Why can't Amazon own EA? A gut "they'll be too big / successful / profitable" is not enough.

Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#92

Post by z3phyr »

jwie wrote: post #69

Microsoft has acquired Bethesda, will probably acquire Activision-Blizzard, and has purchased other, smaller studios in the past already. I wonder what’s driving the desire to buy up video game publishers. There probably aren’t many left at the scope of the ones already bought or in a deal that are practically purchasable, even for big tech players.

There is a lot of money in video game publishing business, given how video games are slowly becoming persistent and ongoing. Companies like Microsoft and Amazon have the means to handle such publishing, and they would surely want control on that cash cow.

Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#93

Post by throwawayacc2 »

jwie wrote: post #69

Microsoft has acquired Bethesda, will probably acquire Activision-Blizzard, and has purchased other, smaller studios in the past already. I wonder what’s driving the desire to buy up video game publishers. There probably aren’t many left at the scope of the ones already bought or in a deal that are practically purchasable, even for big tech players.

A cynic might suspect it’s the same reason traditional media is bought and has value. By controlling video games, you control an important media influencing children profoundly. You teach them from a young age the lesson you want taught, it will be more impactful than school which is boring, and you get to shape them up to be good consumers for when they grow up.

Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#94

Post by shakes_mcjunkie »

tasubotadas wrote: post #74
reustle wrote: post #17

Will there ever be a point where as a society we agree to put an upper cap on the size of companies? Does Amazon really need to absorb even more? Doesn’t that stifle competition? I understand that enforcement is hard as the rule wouldn’t be global, but still curious.

Because of limits like these India economy has lost 4 decades of growth. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_Raj

That's not even close to what we have today in the US. Antitrust basically doesn't exist in the US.

Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#95

Post by syzar »

4eleven7 wrote: post #54
reustle wrote: post #17

Will there ever be a point where as a society we agree to put an upper cap on the size of companies? Does Amazon really need to absorb even more? Doesn’t that stifle competition? I understand that enforcement is hard as the rule wouldn’t be global, but still curious.

Antitrust law does exactly this. If Amazon owning EA overly concentrates market power/forms a monopoly, it'll be rejected and the deal with fail. Why would you want to put an upper cap on the size of companies? It feels like stifling innovation and productivity, which will be overly negative for everyone.

It seems to me most innovation comes from increased competition and upstart companies. Do large conglomerates provide the main driver of innovation?

Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#96

Post by shakes_mcjunkie »

tmikaeld wrote: post #49
reustle wrote: post #17

Will there ever be a point where as a society we agree to put an upper cap on the size of companies? Does Amazon really need to absorb even more? Doesn’t that stifle competition? I understand that enforcement is hard as the rule wouldn’t be global, but still curious.

Amazon is still tiny compared to the enormous size and width of Samsung, that spans, Electronics, Electro-Mechanics, SDI, SDS, Engineering C&T, Heavy Industries, Life Insurance, Fire & Marine Insurance and more..

Okay well break them up too.

Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#97

Post by NicoJuicy »

speed_spread wrote: post #80
InsomniacL wrote: post #47

1, Amazon runs the platform that sells the games - Amazon 2, Amazon runs the platform that people use while playing the games - Twitch 3, Amazon runs the platform that hosts the servers to play the games - AWS 4, Amazon runs the platform that you play the game on - Luna 5, Amazon runs the platform that creates the games - EA how is this not anti-competition for anyone running a company that competes in only one of th…

That's vertical integration and is mostly orthogonal to anti-competitive behavior. A million dollar startup could do those things too.

A million dollar startup can buy EA?

Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#98

Post by paganel »

weberer wrote: post #44
paganel wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's only about the gaming sector per se, it's about not allowing an already big behemoth (Amazon, in this case) to get even bigger.

There's no law on the books against that, so you'd have to get congress to write one first.

There has been no law until now, but these are different times, there doesn't need to be any specific law in place. But, we'll see.

Re: Amazon is not going to make a bid for Electronic Arts – sources

#100

Post by syzar »

tasubotadas wrote: post #74
reustle wrote: post #17

Will there ever be a point where as a society we agree to put an upper cap on the size of companies? Does Amazon really need to absorb even more? Doesn’t that stifle competition? I understand that enforcement is hard as the rule wouldn’t be global, but still curious.

Because of limits like these India economy has lost 4 decades of growth. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_Raj

Wouldn’t that point more to an issue with the implementation of the limit rather than the existence of the limit? Are all implementations equally bad?
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