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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

#111

Post by loudmax »

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.

I think I agree with your point that antitrust laws should focus on preventing monopolies rather than on limiting size per se. Ideally, a company should be able to grow to any size so long as it doesn't prevent competition.

In practice, large companies have been able to use their leverage to influence political outcomes and antitrust laws have not been enforced. It's good that we have laws to ensure a free market, but they're not much use if they're ignored.

In this case, I'm not sure that Amazon acquiring a video game company does much to hinder competition. There are lots of indie video games and I don't see that Electronic Arts has any particular technology that locks in customers or excludes other vendors.

As a society we absolutely should be vigilant against concentrations of power, foremost of which are the big tech companies. But when it comes to monopolies, there are more significant things to worry about than this particular acquisition.

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

#113

Post by roflyear »

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…

Can you explain how vertical integration is anti competitive?

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

#114

Post by endorphine »

sschueller wrote: post #42
samwillis wrote: post #26

It seems to me that Amazons long term strategy is to become a "Conglomerate of Brands", leveraging the profits from one business unit to buy out unrelated business. This sort of acquisition doesn't, as far as I can see, advance a particular core business unit (I'm aware Amazon have toyed with games publishing, but its not exactly a core business unit). I suppose it makes sense, investors want their investment to be s…

What movie was that where there was only one large company that did everything? Kind of scary that we are almost at that point now.

Umbrella Corporation from Resident Evil?

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

#115

Post by master_crab »

killyourcar wrote: post #78
4eleven7 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Amazon owning EA will absolutely stifle innovation, especially given their history in the gaming space.

I’m not disagreeing with the general jist of your argument, but EA hasn’t exactly been a hotbed of innovation in years.

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

#116

Post by govg »

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.

Global video game revenue (including mobile gaming) is more than the top 4 sports in the US + Hollywood + music industry. Getting a hand into that pie is going to be very lucrative, especially as gaming has nowhere near the cultural mindshare that these other things do.

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

#117

Post by foepys »

shultays wrote: post #58
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…

Other than Twitch (and maybe AWS, I don't know enough), none of those are monopoly or capable of anti-competition. Even twitch has youtube as alternative

Just because there is one other competitor doesn't mean it's not a valid target for antitrust.

If both were to cooperate and segment their markets in secret, it would be highly anticompetitive.

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

#119

Post by Cthulhu_ »

sschueller wrote: post #42
samwillis wrote: post #26

It seems to me that Amazons long term strategy is to become a "Conglomerate of Brands", leveraging the profits from one business unit to buy out unrelated business. This sort of acquisition doesn't, as far as I can see, advance a particular core business unit (I'm aware Amazon have toyed with games publishing, but its not exactly a core business unit). I suppose it makes sense, investors want their investment to be s…

What movie was that where there was only one large company that did everything? Kind of scary that we are almost at that point now.

You're trying to find a media reference, but conglomerates that do everything are already a thing; think of the Samsung group that does everything from heavy ship building to microchip manufacturing, insurance, advertising, and a theme park. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol

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

#120

Post by alberth »

samwillis wrote: post #26

It seems to me that Amazons long term strategy is to become a "Conglomerate of Brands", leveraging the profits from one business unit to buy out unrelated business. This sort of acquisition doesn't, as far as I can see, advance a particular core business unit (I'm aware Amazon have toyed with games publishing, but its not exactly a core business unit). I suppose it makes sense, investors want their investment to be s…

This isn't Amazon "long term strategy", it's been their strategy from the very start.

They always wanted to be Sears but in the online world (who had their own credit card, Discover, their own branded product like Craftsman/Diehard/Kenmore/etc).

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