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Microsoft / Activision Deal Approval Watch |OT| (MS/ABK close)

Do you believe the deal will be approved?


  • Total voters
    886
  • Poll closed .
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Varteras

Gold Member
Wait, Did this really happen? ☠️


Shocked Oh No GIF by Yêu Lu
 

LordCBH

Member
Xbox is in the best position it's ever been and Phil is precisely the reason they've gotten Microsoft's full backing and investing over 80 billion is proof of it.

There's a reason Sony is scared.

Some people just fail to see the bigger picture and the long-term future Microsoft is aiming for.

No we see it. We fucking hate the long term future Microsoft wants. Because it’s a negative for everyone BUT MS.
 

RedC

Member
No I can see the long-term easily. Mass industry consolidation of 3P publishers, putting PlayStation out of business, turning their attention to Nintendo after they get rid of PlayStation, hoarding every big 3P IP they can to starve Apple, Google, Amazon etc. from anything before cloud takes off.

They tried the Embrace, Extend, Extinguish strategy with Sony, the emails prove this much. Unfortunately for Microsoft, their actual plans got revealed over the course of this trail, so they won't be catching any competitors off-guard with their parasitic tactics anymore.
You mean Microsoft was planning to be competitive by elevating Xbox as a major pillar and giving its full backing.
 
My point is the Xbox brand wouldn't exist this long without Microsoft. Period. So it's a paradox or better yet a nonsense take.
And my point is that the post you responded to didn't state that.
Again, it stated that the xbox brand hasn't reached it's full potential because of Microsoft's decision's managing it.
Both can be true.
 
You mean Microsoft was planning to be competitive by elevating Xbox as a major pillar and giving its full backing.

"Competitive".

By buying up as many 3P publishers as they can, because they offer inferior value to those 3P publishers in negotiation deals when those 3P are independent companies, due to two decades of bad decisions by the Xbox division.

By having an orchestrated plan revealing their idea of "competition" is by targeting the biggest 3P publishers and removing the ability for direct competitors to do business with them in a fair & open market.

Yes, what amazing "competition". 🤮
 

RedC

Member
"Competitive".

By buying up as many 3P publishers as they can, because they offer inferior value to those 3P publishers in negotiation deals when those 3P are independent companies, due to two decades of bad decisions by the Xbox division.

By having an orchestrated plan revealing their idea of "competition" is by targeting the biggest 3P publishers and removing the ability for direct competitors to do business with them in a fair & open market.

Yes, what amazing "competition". 🤮
If Microsoft is successful in buying Activision Blizzard, it is highly unlikely they will be able to acquire another Third Party Publisher in the near future.
 
If Microsoft is successful in buying Activision Blizzard, it is highly unlikely they will be able to acquire another Third Party Publisher in the near future.

And depending on how they are acquired, they will kick off an onset of larger market consolidation by other platform holders and outside corporations. Which still chips away (in large chunks, in some cases) at the independent 3P market and its value.

Also nothing guarantees MS cannot buy other publishers later on if they get ABK. Satya Nadella himself has said they were open to further acquisitions after ABK.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
"According to SIE internal surveys, almost half of PlayStation 5 owners in the United States also own a Nintendo Switch, while less than 20% of PlayStation 5 owners in the United States also own an Xbox Series X or S."

This came up during today's hearing. And this is a stark reminder for people who thought that gamers would just buy a 2nd high-end gaming console. I think this is also the miscalculation why Series S isn't doing as well as Microsoft thought it would.

It's also in the US -- where people are most likely to buy an Xbox. Yet 80% of PS owners don't have an Xbox and are a single console owner.

This likely warrants a separate thread. But it's also an interesting question on the potential success (or failure) of Starfield as a console driver. Will people really buy a 2nd console to play Starfield as MS hopes, or will not releasing Starfield on PlayStation ultimately backfire for MS because of reduced profitability?!
 

RedC

Member
And depending on how they are acquired, they will kick off an onset of larger market consolidation by other platform holders and outside corporations. Which still chips away (in large chunks, in some cases) at the independent 3P market and its value.

Also nothing guarantees MS cannot buy other publishers later on if they get ABK. Satya Nadella himself has said they were open to further acquisitions after ABK.
The onset of large market consolidation had already started. If anything, it seemed to have slowed down.

Yes, Microsoft would be open to further acquisitions but it would highly likely be only studios and not third-party publishers if they get Activision Blizzard.
 
The onset of large market consolidation had already started. If anything, it seemed to have slowed down.

Yes, Microsoft would be open to further acquisitions but it would highly likely be only studios and not third-party publishers if they get Activision Blizzard.

I can see MS acquiring small studios close to them such as Asobo, but if the deal passes I can't see them acquiring any other publisher
 

Rubim

Member
I don't think you can put infinite money on developers and get a good game.

Talent is not something you can buy it easily.

So I don't know exactly what would be e the strategy.
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
Xbox is in the best position it's ever been and Phil is precisely the reason they've gotten Microsoft's full backing and investing over 80 billion is proof of it.

There's a reason Sony is scared.

Some people just fail to see the bigger picture and the long-term future Microsoft is aiming for.
I'm on about the last 10 years. When you are mismanaged to such an extent that, a console released with no first party games, its advantages were diluted [first party] to being worthless [free] and third party purchases became wait for Gamepass™️.

MS are looking for a quick fix now, and they will not have a real plan in place, and rather than change plan, it keeps going to the nuclear option first everytime.
 

tmlDan

Member
CNBC is confused with the FTC's intentions.


we've already discussed these at length, these media people seem uninformed based off their discussion.

They are not the market leader by a mile, revenue matters and its closer than people think - console sales are not the business MS is in when they have their games on cloud, sub services, TV partnerships, and more
 

b6a6es

Banned
I don't think you can put infinite money on developers and get a good game.

Talent is not something you can buy it easily.

So I don't know exactly what would be e the strategy.
Yes you can, ask Nintendo in 1998 when they co owned Pokemon
 
Someone on the PS5 reddit made a summation of all the redacted stuff in the Sony court docs. Lots and lots of very interesting info and data there.

  • The last game covered by the Sony ABK CoD contract is a Call of Duty title to be released in late 2023
  • Modern Warfare 2 (2022) sold 4.4 million units on PlayStation in its first week
  • PlayStation users that play Call of Duty generated an annual platform spending of around $15.9 (or could be $13.9) billion worldwide from 2019 to 2021
  • In 2021, over 1 million PlayStation players only played Call of Duty on their PlayStation and nothing else. 6 million PlayStation gamers spent 70% of their time only playing Call of Duty.
  • Horizon Forbidden West development took 5 years. Starting in 2017 and releasing in 2022. It cost $212 million to develop with a headcount of over 300 full time employees.
  • Last of us part 2 took longer to develop, 70 (i think it says that) months to develop starting in 2014 and ending in 2020. Headcount peaked at around 200 full time employees. It cost $220 million to develop.
  • SIE's data shows that CoD is the largest third-party franchise for SIE, generating $873 million in United States spending in 2021.
  • Microsoft and SIE both made competing bids for Valheim and Immortality to have those games on their subscription services. Microsoft won both bids.
  • Sony typically does not require subscription exclusivity for games included on PS Plus. Microsoft often requires day one Game Pass titles to not be made available on competing subscription services.
  • Less than 20% of PS5 owners also own an Xbox Series X/S in the United States
  • Almost half of PS5 owners own a Nintendo Switch in the US.
  • 34% (?) of SIE's revenue comes from the sale of PlayStation consoles & accessories.
  • On third-party games, the amount SIE typically receives would be the margin between the retail price SIE charges on the PlayStation store and the wholesale price negotiated with the publisher. Typically, this margin is 10%.

 
I don't think you can put infinite money on developers and get a good game.

Talent is not something you can buy it easily.

So I don't know exactly what would be e the strategy.

You can buy talent, many companies do nowadays: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook.. the key here is how to retain talent, and money isn't everything there are other aspects that play a big role such as work life balance, career development, professional preferences, management, etc.
 

Darsxx82

Member
that can’t be right, their legions keep telling us that Microsoft has to buy publishers because they can’t ‘compete’ with Sony for deals like this
Inmortality and Valheim?? Of course MS can compete for indi games. What's more, for those Studios it is more interesting to be in Gamepass and have the money from MS and launch their game on the platform with the most user base where they will sell the game at full price...
Where MS has it difficult is in exclusivity agreements with 3rd party AAA and almost impossible with 3rd party AAA of certain markets.
 
Someone on the PS5 reddit made a summation of all the redacted stuff in the Sony court docs. Lots and lots of very interesting info and data there.

  • The last game covered by the Sony ABK CoD contract is a Call of Duty title to be released in late 2023
  • Modern Warfare 2 (2022) sold 4.4 million units on PlayStation in its first week
  • PlayStation users that play Call of Duty generated an annual platform spending of around $15.9 (or could be $13.9) billion worldwide from 2019 to 2021
  • In 2021, over 1 million PlayStation players only played Call of Duty on their PlayStation and nothing else. 6 million PlayStation gamers spent 70% of their time only playing Call of Duty.
  • Horizon Forbidden West development took 5 years. Starting in 2017 and releasing in 2022. It cost $212 million to develop with a headcount of over 300 full time employees.
  • Last of us part 2 took longer to develop, 70 (i think it says that) months to develop starting in 2014 and ending in 2020. Headcount peaked at around 200 full time employees. It cost $220 million to develop.
  • SIE's data shows that CoD is the largest third-party franchise for SIE, generating $873 million in United States spending in 2021.
  • Microsoft and SIE both made competing bids for Valheim and Immortality to have those games on their subscription services. Microsoft won both bids.
  • Sony typically does not require subscription exclusivity for games included on PS Plus. Microsoft often requires day one Game Pass titles to not be made available on competing subscription services.
  • Less than 20% of PS5 owners also own an Xbox Series X/S in the United States
  • Almost half of PS5 owners own a Nintendo Switch in the US.
  • 34% (?) of SIE's revenue comes from the sale of PlayStation consoles & accessories.
  • On third-party games, the amount SIE typically receives would be the margin between the retail price SIE charges on the PlayStation store and the wholesale price negotiated with the publisher. Typically, this margin is 10%.



Evil Microsoft never went away. They just acquired a good enough plastic surgeon to give them a prettier, friendlier face.
 

b6a6es

Banned
that can’t be right, their legions keep telling us that Microsoft has to buy publishers because they can’t ‘compete’ with Sony for deals like this
Imo, jimbo shouldve brought SIE’s PR overtime to tell us those facts, they absolutely have 0 PR & communication
 

graywolf323

Member
Imo, jimbo shouldve brought SIE’s PR overtime to tell us those facts, they absolutely have 0 PR & communication
honestly I think PlayStation’s approach has basically been why bother lowering themselves to Xbox’s level on this crap?

they’ve been successfully and they know it, instead of getting into a PR mudslinging contest they just ignore it and keep making great games

edit: I mean the only time we’ve actually heard them comment publicly was after Phil Spencer put out a lie about negotiations with Sony and that led to Jim Ryan in turn publicly refuting it?
 
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b6a6es

Banned
Jim Ryan and Sony actually like to handle business where business is handled, which does not include showboating and turning business matters into a public reality TV show.

They aren't tasteless like Microsoft is, in that regard.
Yes, they aren’t

Unless your entire gaming business (and reputation) is on the line here


I sincerely expect the announcement of Nvidia’s acquisition of Playstation before 2026 if the deal goes through
 
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"According to SIE internal surveys, almost half of PlayStation 5 owners in the United States also own a Nintendo Switch, while less than 20% of PlayStation 5 owners in the United States also own an Xbox Series X or S."

This came up during today's hearing. And this is a stark reminder for people who thought that gamers would just buy a 2nd high-end gaming console. I think this is also the miscalculation why Series S isn't doing as well as Microsoft thought it would.

It's also in the US -- where people are most likely to buy an Xbox. Yet 80% of PS owners don't have an Xbox and are a single console owner.

This likely warrants a separate thread. But it's also an interesting question on the potential success (or failure) of Starfield as a console driver. Will people really buy a 2nd console to play Starfield as MS hopes, or will not releasing Starfield on PlayStation ultimately backfire for MS because of reduced profitability?!

There's already reduced reason to buy a console for Starfield when the hardcore Bethesda fans can play it on their PC Day 1. Never mind that those curious can play it via xCloud on a tablet or laptop, or their smartphone.

Microsoft's "play anywhere" strategy has in actuality, destroyed a lot of the inherent value proposition in buying an Xbox to access their 1P games. You don't even need to be a market leader to know this is how it would play out; MS were just desperate for a big marketing point over Sony and thought "Day 1 in Game Pass", "Play on any device" etc. were good ones.
 

graywolf323

Member
Satya caught in 4k 30fps.

Called cloud gaming a market
wonder if we’ll see all the people who thought Jim Ryan saying he didn’t think of cloud as a separate market as some amazing gotcha acting the same way?

after all the CEO of the company trying to make the acquisition just admitted he agrees with the CMA view on the markets 🤔 that matters more you’d think?
 
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