I think people expect the big money always wins.
Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
41–50 of 207 posts
Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#42I don't mind the complaint about CMA being undemocratic because it's a council of unelected bureaucrats, it's just trash-talk from someone that didn't get what they wanted; to be expected. IMO the reason why this decision is really dumb is because the reason given was cloud gaming. I think that people are missing this. This isn't a market. Almost nobody plays on cloud gaming platforms, like Stadia which recently clos…
> I don't mind the complaint about CMA being undemocratic
And anyway, who elected Microsoft?
Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#43What would happen if Activision is acquired anyway by Microsoft? Could they simply exist as two separate entities in the UK, and a unified entity elsewhere? With all of the repercussions that entails for the users? Or simply they exit the market in the UK?
very large fines (10% of global turnover per year), arrest of directors/officers/senior managers of Microsoft UK, disapplication of copyright of Microsoft products, possibly extradition requests too
and the shareholders would want the current board out
not to mention the complete total global reputational damage of ignoring a G7 country's competition regulator
Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you actually read the report that the CMA released? They are not basing the block on some "maybe" future, but on current reality. > Microsoft already accounts for an estimated 60-70% of global cloud gaming services and has other important strengths in cloud gaming from owning Xbox, the leading PC operating system (Windows) and a global cloud computing infrastructure (Azure and Xbox Cloud Gaming). Microsoft alread…
> Microsoft already has a majority of the market. You didn't address the point of parent comment, which is, it's not really a market. It's trying to become a market, but so far is just a small niche where companies lose money.
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Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#45I don't mind the complaint about CMA being undemocratic because it's a council of unelected bureaucrats, it's just trash-talk from someone that didn't get what they wanted; to be expected. IMO the reason why this decision is really dumb is because the reason given was cloud gaming. I think that people are missing this. This isn't a market. Almost nobody plays on cloud gaming platforms, like Stadia which recently clos…
Does "cloud gaming" encompass things like Xbox Game Pass though? Subscription model with downloadable access to all games definitely feels cloudy to me.
"Cloud gaming" is such a muddy word that it could specifically mean game streaming services (like the Xbox Cloud Gaming service, which is part of Xbox Game Pass), but also the entirety of Xbox online services.
Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does "cloud gaming" encompass things like Xbox Game Pass though? Subscription model with downloadable access to all games definitely feels cloudy to me.
>Subscription model with downloadable access to all games definitely feels cloudy to me. "Subscription" =/= "cloud"
The Xbox Cloud Gaming (== game streaming) service is part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (subscription) service, so in this case: "subscription" == "cloud".
Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#47What would happen if Activision is acquired anyway by Microsoft? Could they simply exist as two separate entities in the UK, and a unified entity elsewhere? With all of the repercussions that entails for the users? Or simply they exit the market in the UK?
I think they could possibly say that they will move forward with the merger, but cease to publish or sell games in the UK, but I very much doubt they would. The UK is still too big / profitable of a market. As an aside, it is interesting to see how this merger is received in the tech space vs gaming space. Most folks in gaming seem to welcome the merger because Activision has long been anti-consumer / bad stewards of…
>I also think the CMAs rationale for their decision is bizarre and shows a lack of understanding of the space.
They blocked the acquisition on a premise that cloud gaming will be huge in the future and that Microsoft might make Activision Blizzard games exclusive to their Xbox Cloud. Taking in consideration Microsoft's enormous comparative advantages like owning Xbox, Xbox Cloud, Game Pass, Windows, Microsoft Azure plus lots of gaming franchises, this block somewhat makes sense.
But what worries me the most is Zenimax acquisition that gave Microsoft some of the most iconic gaming franchises of all time (Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, Fallout, Elder Scrolls) and the reality is that most likely these franchises will never see a day of light on any other cloud gaming platform except Xbox Cloud.
I can't believe that Zenimax and Bethesda gave in and sold out to the Microsoft despite thriving on their own.
CMA and FTC should've blocked Zenimax acquisition first which would then discourage Microsoft from attempting to acquire Activision Blizzard. But that unfortunately didn't happen, quite the opposite Microsoft grew even more greedier after acquiring Zenimax.
Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they could possibly say that they will move forward with the merger, but cease to publish or sell games in the UK, but I very much doubt they would. The UK is still too big / profitable of a market. As an aside, it is interesting to see how this merger is received in the tech space vs gaming space. Most folks in gaming seem to welcome the merger because Activision has long been anti-consumer / bad stewards of…
> cease to publish or sell games in the UK Wouldn't they need to cease all Microsoft activities in the UK? It's not some Microsoft Gaming Corporation that wants to buy Activision-Blizzard, it's Microsoft Corporation.
It is possible they would have to pull out entirely, that is what Microsoft’s lawyers are threatening could happen, but it won’t. It is too costly for both sides.
It is a challenge for Microsoft, but honestly I don’t know how much sway the CMA has here. They don’t have a ton of leverage to block the deal if every other country is onboard. My guess is they will ask for some specific concessions.
Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#49I think it's fair that Microsoft is upset that they cannot do what their competitors have already completed.
If the UK proceeds with a mandatory breakup of Sony's holdings, I would then approve of how they're regulating the market.
If they, however, allow one titan to build an unstoppable first-party monopoly but bar only some of the competition from catching up, then I have serious concerns and misgivings with the misguided protection of the existing #1 business.
Re: Ignore Microsoft’s whines about the Activision takeover. The CMA did its job
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Microsoft already has a majority of the market. You didn't address the point of parent comment, which is, it's not really a market. It's trying to become a market, but so far is just a small niche where companies lose money.
If you as a consumer can purchase a service without any special insider agreements with the provider, it's a market already, no matter how small or big it is. And since Microsoft already has a estimated 60-70% market share of this existing market, making them have a bigger hold over the market will make it harder to others to enter it, and they'll potentially abuse their position.
Of course the size of the market matters. Just because you have a 100% monopoly on Uber for haircuts doesn't mean you have a particularly dangerous monopoly. People can continue to game on consoles and PC just fine.