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[ComputerBlue]

Worst decision for anyone except Sony shareholders.

And for anyone who doesn’t want Microsoft to completely mismanage yet another studio and potentially destroy many beloved IP’s.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Microsoft can do way more better than this

If they care about gaming they can make big blockbuster AAA games with this money

They can set a new standard in gaming and technology

Sony spent 200m $ in gow ragnarok alone

But who am I kidding, Microsoft does not care anymore

They want to buy the industry just to win by brute force

It is sad really

Off topic but that $200m figure attributed to GoW: R is false afaik.

If the first game cost $45m then realistically the sequel in this case would be about double that.

 

[systemr123]

Imagine comparing buying the biggest publisher, owner of several studios and IPs and employing thousands of people with buying a couple of studios not even reaching 500 people and owning almost no IPs (or none!)...

I'm sure if MS wants to buy smaller independent studios nobody will stop them.

Exactly. Seems the difference here is that MS wants to buy names at any cost, and Sony wants to buy quality employees. I wonder what will work out better in the end .

 

[Muay Ninja]

Good, now MS can start actually putting out some games with the studios they've already bought.

They have more studios than Sony and Nintendo already. If they can't put them to work then they need to GTFO of the industry or get a new management team for their Xbox division.

Consolidation is bad and this news brings me joy.

Thing is the issue blocking them isn't really with the console side of things. It's more about Cloud Gaming.

• Sony own 23 studios
• Microsoft own 24 studios (2 of which are listed as publishing arms)
• Nintendo own 8 studios and have contracts and/or stakes with another 17 studios. (25 total)

Outside of being pedantic about specific numbers, I'd say at this point they're all about even on the studio front really. The major difference is the utilisation of said Studios which both Nintendo and Sony have done a much better job with.

 

[DonJorginho]

Holy shit…

More ammo for the people in opposition I guess.

I‘ll stay away from this one as this thread will soon be infested with insults and aggression.

Jim Ryan can’t keep getting away with this.

 

[FullMetalx117]

Paying ATVI $2 billion per year probably gets COD on Gamepass. Paying $3 billion per year probably gets entire library.

If Microsoft really wants to “help” gamers with games on Gamepass, they can use that $70 billion and have COD on Gamepass for 35 years. Bet you they won’t do that tho

 

[jm89]

So I actually don't give a shit about this and only pretend to so I can stir people on here - but does this "Cloud Gaming" reason mean it's more to do with Google, NVIDIA and potentially Netflix & Apple soon in that space compared to Sony?

CMA named nvidia, sony and amazon as key competitors to microsoft in cloud gaming.

They also had concerns of new entrants to the market.

 

[SolarFry]

Instead of pouring 100 billion into acquisitions, just build up your own studios, Microsoft! Is that so hard?

 

[zomboden]

Ultimate Edition paid for as I was just waiting to see what happened here

Bring on the server stress test next month I need more of a fix

see you in game. I loved the betas and it's the only game besides Starfield that I'm looking forward to right now. Smooth gameplay. Rich open world. World bosses to tackle with groups of other players. Helltide events to run through with masses of other adventurers. The game is going to be so good for me. I love the lost ark/diablo mix so much.

there's 0% chance this deal goes through before D4 now. I dont think it was going to go through before D4 anyways before today. (I think the deal is dead)

 

[dotnotbot]

Cma think cloud gaming is important or it will ever be lol, couldn’t ms not simply sate they no Longer want anything to do with cloud gaming, or are they as deluded as the cma

No one believes their shit

 

[Stare-Bear]

And for anyone who doesn’t want Microsoft to completely mismanage yet another studio and potentially destroy many beloved IP’s.

This right there... Being bought by Microsoft is a death sentence for creativity...

 

[balls of snow]

Sony yet again accomplished everything they wanted, I don’t know what demon they made a deal with but it is amazing how much that company wins all the time.

Well not all the time.

 

[Yoboman]

The season finale of the ABK deal is delivering better than Succession

 

[FrankWza]

Without a doubt I think they would have stripped the games from PlayStation after 10 years. But I'll say what I've said before. PlayStation has such strong mindshare that Microsoft could make every single Activision Blizzard game Xbox/PC only and they still wouldn't sell more consoles than them as it stands right now. So where's the path forward for Microsoft? If they spend another 2 years wasting resources on this losing acquisition and then 1 year or 2 years later decide to make new studios. How long til those new studios bare fruit and start releasing games? 2 console generations from now? Give me a break. Nobody is sticking around that long.

I guess they looked ahead of consoles and went to a time where cloud was the primary delivery and didn't see a way that other companies could compete. Preemptively blocking a monopoly.

 

[Luigi Mario]

This isn't a win for the consumer

Stay mad. Also get that wallet of yours ready

 

[MisterXDTV]

Bad news after Bad news for Xbox, but knowing them Even if they don't Buy activision they Will likely pay them for having everything exclusive in Revenge to Sony.

So Activision would give up on their first costumer (Sony) and the top-selling console in the world???

Yeah, right....

Xbox is dead as a brand

 

[Bo_Hazem]

 

[El Pistolero]

I'm on no side here as someone who plays on both platforms, but it is hilarious seeing how all the Xbox Console Warriors were gloating childishly only to be left with their pants down.

All adult fanboys are childish, stubborn and annoying, but Xbox warriors (at least on Youtube) have an additional stigma*...


*Chromosome

 

[begotten]

Also poor people in shambles right now.

 

[Nvzman]

If Microsoft does not end up owning Activision after all of this, some heads are going to roll internally.

No joke but I think this actually has a chance to kill Xbox.

 

[Interfectum]

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Hot damn.

 

[PaintTinJr]

MS official response

A very dangerous response IMO to the CMA - telling them they are stupid with their "flawed understanding" because they disagree with them.

Ofcom has already referred Amazon and Microsoft's market share of all Cloud services in the UK to the CMA for investigation. If they try and push this appeal issue further I expect the CMA will find ways to make them and Amazon divest market share in cloud too after the CAT denies their appeal. Costing Microsoft a lot more money than this deal failing will. They clearly don't understand how things work in the UK with regulators and are still trying to fight it like they are in the US.

 

[DonJorginho]

The season finale of the ABK deal is delivering better than Succession

Greenberg checking his Twitter replies after hyping this deal up.

 

[ComputerBlue]

Instead of pouring 100 billion into acquisitions, just build up your own studios, Microsoft! Is that so hard?

Lol this is Microsoft we’re talking about here, who have proven that money really can’t buy talent. It can kill it though.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

A very dangerous response IMO to the CMA - telling them they are stupid with their "flawed understanding" because they disagree with them.

Ofcom has already referred Amazon and Microsoft's market share of all Cloud services in the UK to the CMA for investigation. If they try and push this appeal issue further I expect the CMA will find ways to make them and Amazon divest market share in cloud too after the CAT denies their appeal. Costing Microsoft a lot more money than this deal failing will. They clearly don't understand how things work in the UK with regulators and are still trying to fight it like they are in the US.

Yup, spot on.

 

[BiohazardX95]

Also, lol at the clowns that signed the 10 years deal with Microsoft over a Game they don't own.

 

[NEbeast]

I can see Sony announcing a showcase with all the big hitters to put the balls on phils forehead. Chad move.

 

[systemr123]

Paying ATVI $2 billion per year probably gets COD on Gamepass. Paying $3 billion per year probably gets entire library.

If Microsoft really wants to “help” gamers with games on Gamepass, they can use that $70 billion and have COD on Gamepass for 35 years. Bet you they won’t do that tho

Please, don’t use logical arguments to thwart the opposition. It’s not fair. Noooooooooooooooo.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Read the CMA answer, and the points they raise make a lot of sense. If MS were to be allowed to absorb ABK, they would have ZERO competition in the cloud market the moment it takes off. Sony has the games, but not the infrastructure; Google and Amazon the infrastructure, but not the games. MS would have some of the most powerful IPs, the largest stable of developers, and Azure to dominate the scene, unchecked. MS as one of the players is good for the industry...MS given carte blanche to create another Windows scenario is a nightmare.

Really doesn't make sense though, Google especially could leverage mobile users to cloud without any material change. So could Apple who announced $400Billion with a B for data centres and manufacturing, who also make their own chips very much rivalling the power of traditional consoles the more time marches on.

 

[Dane]

It’s an intelligent move by the CMA If you read the reasoning.
They are essentially trying to protect the competition before the market explodes in cloud gaming.

It’s coming, of course people arent happy on here about cloud gaming but once it sets off and gets going we certainly do not want MS dictating how that will go the same for any large corporation.

This isn’t about the IP itself but the ability to set off a new industry where no one can provide a viable alt.

Impressive if it’s been thought through and it seemingly has.
Sony getting COD has nothing to do with this ruling.

If that's the case, then Netflix was a monopoly until recently, what kind of precedent is where a company cannot invest into a nascent market and have made deals with the smaller ones for the biggest titles to applease regulators ain't worth anything? They're saying they would rather have it go slow or nowhere than having good money on it, Sony and Google could afford doing the stuff, they just didn't care.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Also poor people in shambles right now.

Probably good bye to unionising for the ABK devs too.

 

[Shi11]

Luigi Mario I have a ps5 , this isn't the own you think it is . Keep reading my post history

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Instead of pouring 100 billion into acquisitions, just build up your own studios, Microsoft! Is that so hard?

They've failed at that too!

I don't even know why MS still tries so hard to stay in the console space. Just sell GP as a third party thing like EA and Ubisoft's things.

They only got into the console market in the first place because Bill Gates was a little xenophobic twat who was afraid that a Japanese company would overtake the home computer market with the PS2 of all things.

 

[NickFire]

Deal is being pushed to 2024

It’s not even June and we’re already i to wait for next year mode.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

[Methos#1975]

And for anyone who doesn’t want Microsoft to completely mismanage yet another studio and potentially destroy many beloved IP’s.

And those that have been playing many Activision IPs for generations now on the PS, like Crash Bandicoot which was once pretty much it's mascot. This deal was always not in good faith with the majority of console gamers and would of placed barriers on them.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

 

[Interfectum]

Well not all the time.

This movie outgrossed Antman 3, right?

 

[supernova8]

Call of Duty will eventually go 100% free-to-play with MTX (no single player at all) and at that point it would be probably be on both Microsoft and Sony's subscription services. I'd say easily within the next 10 years, so Microsoft acting like santa claus bringing Call of Duty to Game Pass is a bit hollow IMO.

 

[DenchDeckard]

This is never going to end....

 

[systemr123]

They've failed at that too!

I don't even know why MS still tries so hard to stay in the console space. Just sell GP as a third party thing like EA and Ubisoft's things.

They only got into the console market in the first place because Bill Gates was a little xenophobic twat who was afraid that a Japanese company would overtake the home computer market with the PS2 of all things.

It’s hard to build up good studios if diversity hiring is more important than to actually hire talent. Go woke, go broke.

 

[Pedro Motta]

What is stopping Activision games from going into Gamepass?

Profit.

 

[Interfectum]

 

[MDSLKTR]

Brothers go easy on the lol emoji today, it might break GAF

They can't take the L, can they?

They sure can take the LULU now!

 

[quest]

Please, don’t use logical arguments to thwart the opposition. It’s not fair. Noooooooooooooooo.

Yes Microsoft should just lose billions to protect a market that might not ever take off. I can imagine the cma siding with block buster against netflix its not fair netflix is investing in building a new streaming market and must be stopped so they don't become a monopoly. But the current leader is free to do what it wants.

 

[Dr_Ifto]

Talk about a news drop. Damn.

I thought this would go through with concessions, like cannot pull off other platforms for x years...

 

[analog_future]

Legitimately concerned about Xbox as a brand at this point.

I think it's time for me to consider a shift to PC as my primary gaming platform.

 

[Yoboman]

Market not even open, it's going to the floor

 

[bluecowboys]

Good on MS to appeal this. I think they would end up winning the appeal.

Just focus on getting approved by the EU commission. FTC won’t do anything except make some noise.

 

[[Sigma]]

Good to see the CMA isn't fooled by the 10 year agreements.



A solution that is time-limited is not a solution.

Although i'm still in the belief that this deal will eventually go through somehow, I find it hilarious that they essentially called the 10 year deals MS was parading around handing out like candy that folks were championing bullshit lol.