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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

#131

Post by blantonl »

kmlx wrote: post #108
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.

> Will there ever be a point where as a society we agree to put an upper cap on the size of companies? it would be great if we could first put a cap on the biggest culprit: government.

There is a cap on the biggest culprit, and it's renegotiated and voted on often by elected officials.

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

#132

Post by sschueller »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #56
sschueller wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Idiocracy ;) In that movie, Costco pretty much does everything.

Yes, that is it. :)

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

#133

Post by pc86 »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #97
speed_spread wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

This seems like, at best, intentionally misunderstanding the GP to try to make some political point that isn't even grounded in reality.

It's fairly well established that vertical integration is not only not anti-competitive, but benefits both corporations and consumers.

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

#134

Post by yalogin »

They are being smart about which ones they are acquiring. They are not into game development or even own any gaming platforms, so going after EA most likely won’t be blocked. However I don’t know how the strategy of buying unrelated businesses will hold up over time. The CEO will not have any coherent strategy across business units and they will just have to be run as independent brands with their own individual CEOs. Is this a hedge against market corrections? I mean if one business is in recession may be the others help?

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

#136

Post by shultays »

foepys wrote: post #117
shultays wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

True I guess, but hard to say that Twitch and Youtube is doing that. Even Steam is in this picture I think although they are less relevant maybe?

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

#138

Post by amelius »

alberth wrote: post #27
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.

> put an upper cap on the size of companies How would you measure “size”? EDIT: What do you mean by "cap" then? Would you force the company to be broken apart into smaller independent companies if it exceeded whatever cap is defined?

Number of people employed.

If you can rake in billions using a team of 50 people, that is great, and should be allowed.

Also, a company like Apple should be allowed. What should not be allowed is for Apple to own its entire supply chain (which would not be possible if company size was limited by number of people).

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

#139

Post by qzx_pierri »

mamonster wrote: post #3

Surely this will be the Rubicon for FTC to take a serious look at the gaming industry, assuming this actually gets announced?

Consolidation doesn't equal monopoly. A monopoly is defined as "the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service" - As long as indie game studios exist, the FTC will pay the gaming industry no mind. As long as games, as a commodity, can be created out of "thin air" (code), the FTC will pay the gaming industry no mind.

Huge companies buying every major studio is definitely a "dick move" (lack of a better term), but it's not a monopoly, and it never could be. Some of the most impactful games of the past 5 years were released by small teams and amassed cult followings.

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

#140

Post by dd36 »

haunter wrote: post #82
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…

They also want to become more involved with live sport broadcasts (NFL and Premier League for example). EA has some major sport licenses (NHL, NFL, FIFA, PGA, F1, UFC)

Those licenses really shouldn’t be allowed to be exclusive.
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