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Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

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Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#161

Post by laputan_machine »

mchesters wrote: post #135
palijer wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked around for a while, a d I can't actually find a list of any mergers that antitrust regulations actually prevented. I'm assuming some survivor bias is involved here and we don't hear about the ones that stopped early, but it seems that what I and most folks assume antitrust regulations do is different than what actually happens. I remember the Sirius/XM merge and how those were the only two players in the mar…

Nvidia/Arm comes to mind as a recent acquisition prevented.

Because of the UK's CMA. the US equivalent does not seem to care about preventing these giant mergers as much.

https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/nvidia-slash-arm-merger-inquiry

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#162

Post by strulovich »

palijer wrote: post #84
agd wrote: post #53

With these kind of acquisitions, other companies are going to find it very hard to compete with Game Pass. I think we'll look back in 10 years and wonder why antitrust regulators did nothing, but it may be too late by then.

I looked around for a while, a d I can't actually find a list of any mergers that antitrust regulations actually prevented. I'm assuming some survivor bias is involved here and we don't hear about the ones that stopped early, but it seems that what I and most folks assume antitrust regulations do is different than what actually happens. I remember the Sirius/XM merge and how those were the only two players in the mar…

Meta’s (Facebook) acquisition of Giphy got blocked by European regulators iirc.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#163

Post by Iolaum »

justaman wrote: post #132
baal80spam wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activision's value skyrocketed under Kotick, not sure why they would want to replace him.

Value skyrocketed, but IP was demolished. Warcraft and Starcraft are two of the most popular game franchises ever. Today, nobody cares about the story of these games anymore. Popular characters have been written into a wall or killed off in an unsatisfying way. The overall story is a tangled mess of retcons, 1000 IQ BBEG, and directionless plot lines. While Activision made record profits, they did it at the cost of p…

Totally Agree. Inspiring games like Horizon Zero Dawn just don't come out of Blizzard anymore.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#164

Post by echelon »

koheripbal wrote: post #56
Kelteseth wrote: post #31

Can somebody please explain to me, why is it allowed for a company like MS to buy all of their (indirect) competitors?

In our legal system, actions are legal unless there is a law making them illegal. If you are referring to anti-trust laws preventing this, then MS would need to be buying a huge number of companies to monopolize the gaming market, not just Activision, in order to be in violation of this law.

But they span ten or so different industries with a $2T market cap, and it's full of unhealthy monopolistic synergies. They can wield this power to force deals and push out competitors across their multiple business units.

They can "ask" gaming companies to use Azure if they want to run on Windows or Xbox. They can ignore Mac and PlayStation as platforms. They can bundle software licenses, payment gateways, and design hardware that only works in one ecosystem.

This is the modern monopoly. Good luck competing with it or avoiding their platform fees as you try to grow your revenue. You'll undoubtably wind up feeding your direct competition somehow or another.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#165

Post by simlevesque »

freeflight wrote: post #62
Aissen wrote: post #8

> Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog. [Xbox PR] > The acquisition also bolsters Microsoft’s Game Pass portfolio with plans to launch Activision Blizzard games into Game Pass [MS PR] In case anyone still doubts that Microsoft is all-in on Game Pass.

If they want to be all-in on game pass, then they should actually go all in. As somebody who just got game pass, I feel kinda cheated for what I get; All the games offered there are the “f2p” versions, even MS first party titles like Halo only offer the “default” versions to play “for free” when paying a monthly subscription. It’s like those free versions Epic hands out; They are playable, but they usually lack any a…

That is not at all the case. I've played over 20 games, full games, on Game Pass.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#167

Post by ArtWomb »

bitwize wrote: post #47
s3r3nity wrote: post #16

Congratulations to Phil Spencer, who started out leading an upstart team at Microsoft for a new game console called "Xbox" and is now "CEO of Microsoft Gaming" - a Microsoft Senior Leadership position. Oh, and he now leads the third biggest gaming company on the planet: > When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. It will be interes…

Microsoft owns CoD, Doom, Quake, Minecraft, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and soon Warcraft, Starcraft, and Overwatch. They're becoming the Disney of gaming, which is scary, but hey, Microsoft gonna Microsoft.

>>> Disney of Gaming

Yes. I mean the sub-headline is XboxGamePass is now 25M+ subscribers. Logical next step isn't even games: it's convergence.

Curious we don't see similar consolidation in the Japanese market: Square Enix, Konami, Capcom, Tecmo, Bandai Namco, From. Even Nintendo. All seem attractive targets, no?

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#168

Post by boppo1 »

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #34

I wonder if this will trigger any antitrust lawsuits. I know Microsoft isn't that of the 90's but it seems like the political situation is ripe for politicians to go after "big tech" and this is a pretty major acquisition that will help Xbox be the dominant player in terms of content.

Politicians need something meatier than gaming content. I'd expect google or FB under that lens.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#169

Post by Ekaros »

1_player wrote: post #2

The most important question I have is: will they replace Bobby Kotick? EDIT: "Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard. [...] he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture." Shame on you, Microsoft.

Probably keep him until they restructure the Activision Blizzard somewhat. Like Separating Blizzard and studios under Activision if needed.

Re: Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard

#170

Post by bitexploder »

lvass wrote: post #116
bitwize wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft owns CoD, Doom, Quake, Minecraft, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and soon Warcraft, Starcraft, and Overwatch. They're becoming the Disney of gaming, which is scary, but hey, Microsoft gonna Microsoft.

Haven't you heard? They <3 Linux now, they'll never use their position to lock people into their platforms again. They even promised they'll be good.

Well, if they promised.
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