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Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
101–110 of 490 posts
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How does this make anyone feel any better? What happens after 10 years? What happens in less than 10 years if they don't abide by it? Does Activision get split back out? I doubt it. We're long past the point where you can just set rules/laws and companies will abide by it. We need to be at the point where we also list the punishment ahead of time.
> We're long past the point where you can just set rules/laws and companies will abide by it. We're not, but this is pretty nebulous stuff. The state blocking freely agreed transactions because it can foresee some damage is not exactly a clear cut good, other than for people who are reassured by the idea of the state as a benevolent, all-knowing mom and pop, and for the lawyers who get paid a fortune to debate past a…
> What about this: allow the merger, and if the harm is done, the company must pay, but if the harm is not done, the state must pay?
The FTC identified not having CoD on multiple platforms as a large issue. What payment is justified if Microsoft doesn't allow CoD on multiple platforms?
It's easy to say "if harm is done, the company must pay" but look how long we've know leaded gasoline was harmful, look how long we've know abestoes was harmful, look how long we've know pfas was harmful, look how long we've know cigarettes are harmful. And then look how long it took for any company to pay after fighting tooth and nail saying it wasn't harmful despite their _own_ internal research saying the contrary.
Sure, CoD is not in the same scope as leaded gasoline. The point still remains, a harm has been identified and I don't think they should be allowed to merge so long as the punishment for that harm occurring isn't pre-determined.
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It would be incredibly stupid for MS to make CoD an xbox exclusive and completely misses the business case for buying Activision in the first place. So why are Redfall and Starfield Xbox exclusives? Wouldn't they make more money by releasing them for Playstation too?
The economics are different: Redfall isn't a huge name, so it's more valuable for MS to get people into the game pass subscription than the comparatively piddly incremental one-time revenue they'd get from releasing it on PS5. CoD on the other hand is already a huge name, that releases every year (i.e. recurring revenue, even if it's not a subscription per se), and MS is paying a huge premium for it. Forcing people o…
Microsoft themselves said that they had no economic incentive to make Starfield exclusive prior to buying Bethesda then went and did it anyways. They have earned a huge amount of skepticism in any of these matters and are absolutely not trustworthy.
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#104Microsoft employee here, opinions my own. I work in gaming at Microsoft and I really enjoy it. I think Microsoft gives us a ton of space to explore and make our own impact and I am a huge fan* of Phil Spencer. > Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep C…
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> Ehm, allow me to remind everyone what I heard about Twitter censorship for years.. If Sony doesn’t like it, they can make their own Call of Duty.
Maybe Microsoft should argue this point instead. But they didn't. They argued that they would allow CoD on multi-platforms so it's only reasonable to expect people to respond to that point.
It's a bit similar to how some people said that the posts deserved to be deleted while others said those people should just make their own twitter. Depending on whose talking and their argument you need to change your response. Using a response that the posts shouldn't've have been deleted to somebody who said you should make your own twitter is a non-sequitor.
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Qualitatively, there are also more harms to the consumer by leaving Actiblizz in the incompetent hands of the current leadership. I still wonder what all of this is worth given that the merger was blocked in the UK.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/11/23791149/microsoft-activi...
This part is interesting from that link:
> MLex also reported last month that Microsoft was exploring options to close the deal despite the UK block, which could have involved closing over the UK decision and potentially carving out Activision in the UK. That’s a messy process, and it looks like both parties are now willing to negotiate to avoid it.
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Qualitatively, there are also more harms to the consumer by leaving Actiblizz in the incompetent hands of the current leadership. I still wonder what all of this is worth given that the merger was blocked in the UK.
Given how Microsoft has managed Bethesda (giving them a large amount of autonomy and shipping the doomed Redfall) it's way too optimistic to expect any positive changes for Activision/Blizzard customers. It wouldn't surprise me is Bobby kept running the whole thing, just under Microsoft's ownership. Meanwhile I do expect more Xbox exclusives - which will ultimately harm consumers.
Bobby Kotick is supposed to leave after the acquisition.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/kotick-expected-to-leave-activ...
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
The current status quo is on a path to being harmful to both. I love Nintendo but they compete more with Apple and Google than they do with Sony and Microsoft. If Microsoft exits game consoles next generation Sony won’t have any real competition and that will be very bad for consumers. Microsoft needs their own heavy hitting exclusives and they need them sooner than they can home grow them. This acquisition is one of…
An anti-competitive Microsoft conglomerate to compete with PS# is hardly going to better for consumers than a Nintendo-Sony duopoly. I’d rather we don’t allow bad M&As, even for good reasons.
There really isn't a Nintendo-Sony duopoly. They don't really compete with each other. It's a handheld game system with the ability to dock and work with a TV. The hardware and its gaming capabilities are very different. There is almost no overlap in the games available to each console. Nintendo stopped competing on high performance hardware several generations ago.
It competes like a Honda Civic competes with a Chevrolet Corvette.
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#108A snippet from the case "FTC: We've heard about the harms to Sony... Judge: This is about the harms to the consumer not to Sony. Let's take a break until 4:05."
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Sony is at little risk of harm here. They have a ridiculous amount of system selling platform exclusives. Microsoft has what Halo, Forza, Gears of War, and I guess Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020? They have a few other exclusives, but I don't think they're enough to make someone chose an Xbox over a PlayStation.
Microsoft is seriously behind this generation and I just don't see them continuing next generation if they can't make up some ground this one.
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#109A snippet from the case "FTC: We've heard about the harms to Sony... Judge: This is about the harms to the consumer not to Sony. Let's take a break until 4:05."
Qualitatively, there are also more harms to the consumer by leaving Actiblizz in the incompetent hands of the current leadership. I still wonder what all of this is worth given that the merger was blocked in the UK.
An independent studio is independent. Just because other countries can be better run by 1 country, doesn't justify acquiring other companies. Many corporations once they acquire a smaller company, skin it for parts, and dissolve it. Like HBO-Discovery recently. The consumer almost always pays, either in terms of choice, or price.
Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
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Sony is at little risk of harm here. They have a ridiculous amount of system selling platform exclusives. Microsoft has what Halo, Forza, Gears of War, and I guess Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020? They have a few other exclusives, but I don't think they're enough to make someone chose an Xbox over a PlayStation. Microsoft is seriously behind this generation and I just don't see them continuing next generation if they…
These are genre-defining games, and have been historically multiplatform. Not just Activision, they did the Bethesda acquisition, before it. Now, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, will be only Xbox. And now Starfield is confirmed exclusively on Xbox. These are the games I buy a system for, and I only have a PS4 before.