After months of uncertainty, the United States Federal Trade Commission has officially filed a lawsuit to stop Microsoft from its $68.7 billion dollar purchase of Activision Blizzard. The attempt to block the acquisition is because the FTC believes that it would allow Microsoft to suppress competitors, especially due to the fact that Microsoft already acquired ZeniMax and made their IPs exclusive to Microsoft platforms despite stating to antitrust authorities that they would not do that.

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to block technology giant Microsoft Corp. from acquiring leading video game developer Activision Blizzard, Inc. and its blockbuster gaming franchises such as Call of Duty, alleging that the $69 billion deal, Microsoft’s largest ever and the largest ever in the video gaming industry, would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.

Microsoft says that it is prepared to take things to court and prove that its purchase of Activision will help competition rather than hurt it. They also made offers to Valve, Nintendo, and Sony that would allow for Activision's Call of Duty franchise to be available on competing platforms for up to 10 years.

Source

 

[Dark_Ansem]

Go Stadia!!

Inexcusable.

 

[jesus96]

Where was the FTC when Disney purchased Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox again?

This,look at how marvel is now,that's a problem

 

[Dark_Ansem]

This,look at how marvel is now,that's a problem

Really? Endgame begs to differ.

 

[Bladexdsl]

This,look at how marvel is now,that's a problem

at least they do a better job linking all their movies together for the big movie showdowns unlike THE JUSTICE LEAGUE

 

[ZeroFX]

Please. No one in the United States refers to the US as a state, or a nation state. A nation of states, yes, but not what you are suggesting. "Not incorrect" only means you are reaching for a reason to justify Zero's comment.

And I'm not grasping the "calm down" part. I am just having a peaceful conversation with Zero mostly. You can't handle that? You projecting? Little projection with your reach?

Post automatically merged: Dec 10, 2022

Well, I guess there is no point in talking with you anymore. I gave you a chance, but I knew from the get go you were heading to the ignore list.

Ignore list of a ignorant, sounds nice, also you call all that trigger of your's because you don't understand how a middle school level word works a calm and peaceful conversation? lol

 

[bonkmaykr]

I hope they lose.

---

EDIT: To be clear, I hoped Microsoft would lose. FTC are dicks but knowing how Microsoft is I think they're the greater of two evils. I don't have anything against this merger specifically, just the company's pattern of buying out competition and trying to monopolize subsets of the computing industry that makes me upset. Satya Nadella is a pig.

 

[Foxi4]

What? The government is overstepping its boundaries and interfering in a perfectly legitimate acquisition? Why, that’s unprecedented!

Hope Microsoft wins, by the way - there are no legitimate grounds for a suit here.

 

[pedro702]

What? The government is overstepping its boundaries and interfering in a perfectly legitimate acquisition? Why, that’s unprecedented!

Hope Microsoft wins, by the way - there are no legitimate grounds for a suit here.

i like how most people here want monopolys.
what if next year microsoft buys ubisoft? then the year after they Buy EA and then 2k?
Its everything just fine then too? xbox excuse will still be well nintendo barely gets any ubisoft/EA/2k game and they live so its not harming the industry at all....

People fail to realize if they buy activision then they can buy every major studio next since they are all smaller in scale preety much and gobble the entire industry with the exception of the jap studios that wont sell out i guess.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

Hope Microsoft wins, by the way - there are no legitimate grounds for a suit here.

Unless we have seen the papers we don't know that, and the devil is in the details

Post automatically merged: Dec 11, 2022

what if next year microsoft buys ubisoft? then the year after they Buy EA

Honestly, both of them are in dire need of a restructure. Ubisoft is a mess and EA is, well, EA.

 

[susbaconhairman]

I remember people crying that Microsoft would ruin Minecraft :')

it did now we have shitty bedrock edition, and now java edition is slowly becoming that.

 

[FAST6191]

i like how most people here want monopolys.
what if next year microsoft buys ubisoft? then the year after they Buy EA and then 2k?
Its everything just fine then too? xbox excuse will still be well nintendo barely gets any ubisoft/EA/2k game and they live so its not harming the industry at all....

People fail to realize if they buy activision then they can buy every major studio next since they are all smaller in scale preety much and gobble the entire industry with the exception of the jap studios that wont sell out i guess.

That would then be a what if scenario that would have to take into account their present position (as all such considerations should). Taking it as it is here and even assuming they slam doors shut as soon as contracts allow/pay to break contracts I can't get close to this being an unassailable level of control either in general or compared to other things that the various regulatory bodies have allowed to slide through over the last decades (precedent being a kind of important notion in US law).

I will even use your little list there (though take two is the owner of 2k so sub accordingly) to show how there would still be oodles of game industry left if MS did not way overpay for activision (very much a waning star) here, and that is assuming it is only the big boys that can make games and we don't get indie games from a few dudes in a garage somewhere all the time, and even more from those with a rich uncle, a grant from an arts council and those needing either a tax writeoff or a nice boon if it pops.

 

[LightBeam]

Lmao they are just so out of touch really

Crying over Microsoft getting big enough, but what are they against Tencent really ? All of that just because Sony is crying like a baby over Call of Duty. Instead you could just get your shit together and make a good Killzone game for once.
That literally leads to the possibility of having an alternative for Call of Duty and I'm all for it.

I just hope the deals gets through so stuff happens in the industry. I love change, I like when things are moving and changing (well, preferably for the better) and I would like to see if Playstations die-hard fans would do. Buy an Xbox or buy another game ?

 

[pedro702]

That would then be a what if scenario that would have to take into account their present position (as all such considerations should). Taking it as it is here and even assuming they slam doors shut as soon as contracts allow/pay to break contracts I can't get close to this being an unassailable level of control either in general or compared to other things that the various regulatory bodies have allowed to slide through over the last decades (precedent being a kind of important notion in US law).

I will even use your little list there (though take two is the owner of 2k so sub accordingly) to show how there would still be oodles of game industry left if MS did not way overpay for activision (very much a waning star) here, and that is assuming it is only the big boys that can make games and we don't get indie games from a few dudes in a garage somewhere all the time, and even more from those with a rich uncle, a grant from an arts council and those needing either a tax writeoff or a nice boon if it pops.

so it would be fine if Microsoft bough every major studio because we still would have indies and random guys making some games on a garage with theirs uncle money?that is such a BS lol

What i mean is activision is the 2nd highest independent game studio(after tencent) in the market cap that makes console games.

Microsoft $1.829 T
Tencent $392.57 B
Sony $99.53 B
Activision $58.82 B
Nintendo $48.89 B
EA $34.42 B
take two $17.12 B
ubisoft $3.66 B


So yeah to buy the rest of the most known AAA video game studios on consoles microsoft only needs to spent more 56B which isnt much with microsoft market cap and if they allowed it to buy a studio for higher than that , nothing stops them from buying the rest if they do want to. in 1 or 2 years.

Obviosuly there will always be indie games and some random decent game here and there but the industry is mostly spearheaded by the Major studios AAA games, people dont buy a console because they saw an okay indie game, they buy it because they see a massive games, looking amazing and doing incredible things(even if the game is worse overall, the showcase always sells).

Sure you will still get some smaller studios like always but you cant deny the impact it will have on consoles, sure mobile got millions of developers and such but consoles dont have that variety of studios because the games take much more money to make vs mobile market costs of development.

 

[Prior22]

How would this acquisition create a monopoly for console based gaming when it doesn’t adversely effect Nintendo at all?

The PlayStation brand has been very lucky for years in terms of not needing a strong first party lineup because of all the third party support they receive. Sony needs to step up to the plate by creating a lot of strong first party IPs, like they did during the ps2 era. Then it wouldn’t matter what companies like activision do.

 

[FAST6191]

so it would be fine if Microsoft bough every major studio because we still would have indies and random guys making some games on a garage with theirs uncle money?that is such a BS lol

What i mean is activision is the 2nd highest independent game studio(after tencent) in the market cap that makes console games.

Microsoft $1.829 T
Tencent $392.57 B
Sony $99.53 B
Activision $58.82 B
Nintendo $48.89 B
EA $34.42 B
take two $17.12 B
ubisoft $3.66 B


So yeah to buy the rest of the most known AAA video game studios on consoles microsoft only needs to spent more 56B which isnt much with microsoft market cap and if they allowed it to buy a studio for higher than that , nothing stops them from buying the rest if they do want to. in 1 or 2 years.

Obviosuly there will always be indie games and some random decent game here and there but the industry is mostly spearheaded by the Major studios AAA games, people dont buy a console because they saw an okay indie game, they buy it because they see a massive games, looking amazing and doing incredible things(even if the game is worse overall, the showcase always sells).

Sure you will still get some smaller studios like always but you cant deny the impact it will have on consoles, sure mobile got millions of developers and such but consoles dont have that variety of studios because the games take much more money to make vs mobile market costs of development.

MS buying everything is a different matter entirely, as I mentioned in the post there, but actually yeah much like I don't give a fuck about what Hollywood does as the advent of all the fun RED cameras and consumer grade editing software doing 95% of what silly budget Hollywood can do except actually still know how to tell me a story, write a compelling character and not have to play to some imagined blithering idiot that is their supposed audience. That is also saying nothing about how devs rise and fall on the back of things; time and time and time again a dev will hit upon a winning formula, become a major player and then probably suck, though even fewer will either become the bank (see Valve, Epic with Unreal engine and such like) or a publisher.

Equally assuming they have it in their war chest for acquisitions (they might not, market cap is almost irrelevant in this) those would be further acquisitions, at which time the various bodies may or may not have to step back in, as again was the point of the post (you consider such things as they appear at the time/reasonable projections of future).

As far as reasons to purchase a console I am curious there, or at least how much of a percentage that is; we all saw the wii being a wii sports machine (why the top selling games, much less top selling non Nintendo games, would show an abysmal attach rate for the console if it was viewed like that), and probably met those that have a playstation or xbox as annual football game machine.

The games don't take much more money to make. The game devs choose to spend the money on them.

 

[Megadriver94]

I remember people crying that Microsoft would ruin Minecraft :')

HAHAHAHA NO! How is criticizing and worrying over a big tech company buying Minecraft automatically a sign of "crying," dear Mr.half-wit? Sure, there were overreactions in the community at the time, and I know it at first saved Minecraft from being on the brink of falling into irrelevancy. However, blind praise of MIcrosoft is no better than blind praise of Sony. Users Hell'sMalice and Dinohscene, among others are blind as to what is happening with the current management of Minecraft: Java Edition aka chat & and account bans, regardless of server, even if its private. Fucking nanny bullshit, for sure. Many people are also blind-sided as to that it doesn't matter much as to whether or not its Trump or Obama or Joementia Biden in the White house these days. Corporations, no matter what their overall political leanings are, should not co-opt government Pic related as to the chat Reporting:

 

[Foxi4]

i like how most people here want monopolys.
what if next year microsoft buys ubisoft? then the year after they Buy EA and then 2k?
Its everything just fine then too? xbox excuse will still be well nintendo barely gets any ubisoft/EA/2k game and they live so its not harming the industry at all....

People fail to realize if they buy activision then they can buy every major studio next since they are all smaller in scale preety much and gobble the entire industry with the exception of the jap studios that wont sell out i guess.

Microsoft is fully entitled to make a business arrangement with a development house and acquire it - Microsoft and Activision are *not* in competition with each other, Activision does not create products that compete with Microsoft’s (unless you want to argue that Halo Wars competes with StarCraft, there’s very little overlap. Halo and Gears of War are nothing like Call of Duty, and there is no Diablo or World of Warcraft equivalent on Microsoft’s side). They create software *for* Microsoft’s products (Windows and Xbox), among others.

A monopolistic move would imply that Microsoft acquires a competitor in its line of business with the express intent of becoming the only option, thus reducing consumer choice - an attempt to acquire Sony (by the virtue of the PlayStation range vs. Xbox) or Apple (by the virtue of Mac OS vs. Windows) would be closer to a monopolistic move. Using big words without understanding them is silly - Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft have reached an agreement, that should be the end of it.

An acquisition by Microsoft doesn’t make any of the assorted software disappear - consumers still have access to them should they wish to buy them. It *only* strengthens Microsoft’s position on the market, which is the entire point of all acquisitions. There is no evidence that Microsoft is buying Activision-Blizzard in order to bury it - they fully intend for the company to continue operating as a now-subsidiary.

Literally *nothing* is stopping Microsoft’s competition, namely Sony and Nintendo, from making the exact same moves. In fact, they have done so, with Sony acquiring Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, Bend, Guerilla Games, Insomniac and countless others in order to expand their catalogue of exclusives. Activision-Blizzard is bigger - that’s the only difference here.

 

[Megadriver94]

I do agree with the Tencent concerns. Also, I don't really think that its inherently an over-step of government to file lawsuits against possible oligopolies and especially more so, for monopolies. Oh, and BTW I firmly believe that Sony should NOT have killed Killzone off, as a series, nor screwed over the PS Vita in terms of FIrst party support.

Spoiler: Hidden

If only they'd get their heads out of their soylent bottles and their Soy fuckheadcisco bay area Moralism before the PS5 or, if not the PS6, ends up selling worse than the PS3 ever did.

 

[pedro702]

Microsoft is fully entitled to make a business arrangement with a development house and acquire it - Microsoft and Activision are *not* in competition with each other, Activision does not create products that compete with Microsoft’s (unless you want to argue that Halo Wars competes with StarCraft, there’s very little overlap. Halo and Gears of War are nothing like Call of Duty, and there is no Diablo or World of Warcraft equivalent on Microsoft’s side). They create software *for* Microsoft’s products (Windows and Xbox), among others.

A monopolistic move would imply that Microsoft acquires a competitor in its line of business with the express intent of becoming the only option, thus reducing consumer choice - an attempt to acquire Sony (by the virtue of the PlayStation range vs. Xbox) or Apple (by the virtue of Mac OS vs. Windows) would be closer to a monopolistic move. Using big words without understanding them is silly - Activision-Blizzard and Microsoft have reached an agreement, that should be the end of it.

An acquisition by Microsoft doesn’t make any of the assorted software disappear - consumers still have access to them should they wish to buy them. It *only* strengthens Microsoft’s position on the market, which is the entire point of all acquisitions. There is no evidence that Microsoft is buying Activision-Blizzard in order to bury it - they fully intend for the company to continue operating as a now-subsidiary.

Literally *nothing* is stopping Microsoft’s competition, namely Sony and Nintendo, from making the exact same moves. In fact, they have done so, with Sony acquiring Sucker Punch, Naughty Dog, Bend, Guerilla Games, Insomniac and countless others in order to expand their catalogue of exclusives. Activision-Blizzard is bigger - that’s the only difference here.

you failled to prove your only logic

"A monopolistic move would imply that Microsoft acquires a competitor in its line of business with the express intent of becoming the only option"

so dont activision and Microsoft work in the same business? you dont need to make the exact same game titles to be in competition you just need to be in the same space, people who spend money on one activision game might not have to spend on a microsoft game and vice versa, same exact space.

If microsoft buys ea,ubisot and take two you are also fine then? since microsoft doesnt have any game that directly competes with them?no fifa,gta,watch dgos,etc? lol what about the general gaming market? where all major ips will be owned by the same exact company becoming the almost only option to get any AAA game that isnt made by 1st partys?that isnt a monopoly in your book?

Heck for your logic xbox could buy nintendo and sony since barely any games do direct competition besides what forza and GT? because every other ip is different it wouldnt be a monopoly either would it?

 

[Foxi4]

Heck for your logic xbox could buy nintendo and sony since barely any games do direct competition besides what forza and GT? because every other ip is different it wouldnt be a monopoly either would it?

Maybe you should read the post again before responding - y’know, just in case you wanted to have a good rebuttal. Acquiring Sony/Nintendo for the purposes of killing off their competing systems *would* reduce consumer choice and *would* be monopolistic. Buying a developer does not have the same effect, for reasons I’ve explained above.