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Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

theverge.com

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Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#281

Post by MisterBastahrd »

TheCaptain4815 wrote: post #224

What a joke. Because Microsoft is now failing as a gaming company the past 10 years, they’ve been allowed to swallow up competiton. Practically every game they’ve released or worked on the past 5 years has failed. Halo Infinite might literally be the biggest flop in entertainment history. Because of Azure they’re able to absorb these losses and continue to consolidate and eat the competiton. There’s tons of examples…

Because Sony is a tiny company, right?

Half the reason that Microsoft has been buying game studios is because Sony has been buying game studios. Sony has even bought a game studio that Microsoft already bought and sold.

Among others, Sony's bought: Psygnosis (Lemmings), Incognito (Twisted Metal), Zipper Interactive (SOCOM), Sigil (Everquest), Evolution (WRC, Motorstorm), Bungie (Destiny), Polyphony (Gran Turismo), Santa Monica (God of War), Bend (Days Gone, Syphon Filter), Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, The Last of Us), Guerilla (Killzone, Horizon), Media Molecule (Little Big Planet), Sucker Punch (Ghost of Tsushima), Insomniac (Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man)... they basically have built their entire "first party" game catalog off of the companies they've acquired.

Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#282

Post by vlozko »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #268
kiwijamo wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you'd put the Gameboy for example on par with the PlayStation? Despite one being portable and the other not?

The portability doesn’t matter. Nintendo operates in a different market segment because of the hardware specs, and games they support. If you want to play the latest Call of Duty, Halo, God of War, Elden Ring… then Sony and Microsoft are competing for your business (sometimes with exclusive contracts), Nintendo is not. Their consoles wouldn’t be able to support those games.

Call of Duty will be available for Switch under Microsoft. Halo and God of War are platform exclusives. But so are Tears of the Kingdom and various Mario titles. Elden Ring is the only game listed that's not available for Switch but is on both others.

Even then, there are a ton of games that are available across all platforms, including some AAA ones: Mortal Kombat 11 The Witcher 3 Assassins's Creed (multiple) Skyrim Resident Evil (multiple) Monster Hunter Rise Overwatch 2 etc...

Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#283

Post by MisterBastahrd »

ScoobleDoodle wrote: post #179
AlexandrB wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda lead directly to Starfield not being released on the Sony PlayStation at all. I read the game’s developers were not happy with that. https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/23/23771828/microsoft-bethed...

They're gonna be even more upset when they realize that about 50% of the people who end up playing the game do so through Gamepass.

Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#285

Post by oneTbrain23 »

Aeolun wrote: post #172

This is weird. The judge says that because there won’t be any anticompetitive effects in the next 10 years (because MS made a pinky promise), this merger is fine? What about after those 10 years? What about anything not Call of Duty?

Judge is very sus. Microsoft hardly kept their promises if we look at their past records.

Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#286

Post by sundvor »

wlesieutre wrote: post #263
doodlesdev wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, which year Type R did that lap? I'm familliar with the EK9 generation from the 90s, is this lap in one of the newer models from the last years?

That time is a 2017. The 2023 actually went faster, but the lap length changed in 2019 so its 7:44.9 time isn’t directly comparable. https://www.motortrend.com/news/2023-honda-civic-type-r-nurb...

And the 2023 was a stripped down version only available in Europe as well, that + the track change is why I looked up the 2017 numbers to compare properly.

Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#287

Post by taeric »

tguedes wrote: post #272
TheCaptain4815 wrote: post #224

What a joke. Because Microsoft is now failing as a gaming company the past 10 years, they’ve been allowed to swallow up competiton. Practically every game they’ve released or worked on the past 5 years has failed. Halo Infinite might literally be the biggest flop in entertainment history. Because of Azure they’re able to absorb these losses and continue to consolidate and eat the competiton. There’s tons of examples…

It’s funny that you mention Sony considering almost all of their first titles are from studios they’ve bought over the last 15 years. I guess it’s fine when Sony did it in the past to get ahead of the competition but now when Microsoft is doing it, it’s anticompetitive. The fact is the only way Microsoft becomes competitive again is for the industry to switch to streaming games. Thats why they’re buying all these stu…

There is a difference in basically sponsoring the artistic abilities of a studio, versus buying one to shoulder out your competition, though. To pretend otherwise for Microsoft seems very disingenuous.

That is, for many of the studios that Sony has funded, it is easy to see a series of games that nobody else was willing to place bets on. For the ones that Microsoft is buying... Seems very very different.

Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#288

Post by SV_BubbleTime »

lesuorac wrote: post #102
robertlagrant wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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'v…

>The FTC identified not having CoD on multiple platforms as a large issue.

What perspective has been applied to this?

Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#289

Post by taeric »

rpvnwnkl wrote: post #214
Aeolun wrote: post #172

This is weird. The judge says that because there won’t be any anticompetitive effects in the next 10 years (because MS made a pinky promise), this merger is fine? What about after those 10 years? What about anything not Call of Duty?

Im hoping Microsoft will altruistically stop producing these addictive “games”. As a new console player, the differences between a game like Halo Infinite and Overwatch (FPS 4v4/5v5) are enough to put me from playing and in control to binging. Here’s a tangent: The most popular sports leagues in the world are mimicked by people all over the world who play casual and team sports. The game itself is not proprietary. Wh…

This shows a sad ignorance to how little leagues and the like actually work. The games may not be proprietary in the computer sense, but they are very much beholden to the major players for more than makes sense.

Re: Microsoft wins FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard

#290

Post by sundvor »

doodlesdev wrote: post #254
sundvor wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forgot to say these were Nordschleife lap times. It's about a serious test of both driver and car as you get.

Out of curiosity, which year Type R did that lap? I'm familliar with the EK9 generation from the 90s, is this lap in one of the newer models from the last years?

This quoted lap time would be from the 2017 FK8; it was seriously impressive, especially in my books.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Civic_Type_R

I eventually ended up with an electric car instead (Tesla LR3), but spent hours looking at this - and the Subaru WRX.

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