• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

FTC appeals to block already-completed Microsoft-Activision deal

Bernoulli

M2 slut
As Reuters reports, lawyers representing the FTC and Microsoft appeared before a three-judge panel at the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals yesterday.

The FTC argued that district judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who denied the government body's appeal for a preliminary injunction in July, held the FTC to too high a standard.

Imad Abyad, an attorney representing the FTC, argued that the government body only had to show the potential for Microsoft to withhold games from other platforms rather than to make a case that the deal was anticompetitive.

Abyad said Microsoft had done this in the past after acquiring Zenimax in 2020, making some of its titles exclusive to Microsoft.

"I fail to understand how giving somebody a monopoly of something would be pro-competitive," he argued, as reported by CNN."It may be a benefit to some class of consumers, but that is very different than saying it is pro-competitive."

 

ckaneo

Member
FTC should have made Microsoft make a deal to make the games non exclusive then
 
Last edited:

Bernoulli

M2 slut
This is never going to end, huh?
It's over but the FTC is in denial
m2SnG5a.jpg
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
MS just has to show sales of starfield and forza against Spider-Man 2.

FTC has no idea what’s going on. They just didn’t get enough or any payout probably and are mad about it.
 
Last edited:
The only argument why that deal should go through is to protect American companies from foreign takeovers. So pretty much the opposite what especially american capitalists with their free market idea preach.
Any multimillion company buying other equal or even sometimes bigger companies should practically never be allowed for antitrust reasons, which is to my understanding what the FTC tries to do and judges and law seem to not see that problem at all in pretty much each and every case. Hence Disney, google, oil, banks etc easily become giants once they have the critical mass to aim for monopoly.
Grow yourself and don't just suck up the competition was the point of antitrust stuff. So Sony, MS, Tencent, Embracer, EA, Ubi... no one of the bigger ones should imho be allowed to just buy their competition, not even little fishes, some small studios.

But whatever, like with Disney and netflix the videogame industry is heading not in a great direction and allowing those mergers maybe just put the pedal to the metal and it's maybe inevitable.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
It's over and so far Microsoft hasn't had a chance to prove whether this was a good deal or not. I at least wanna see what happens with Gamepass next year.

Preferred that it didn't happen, but shit...we're in it now...as a consumer, I just want whatever benefits it will allow me and for Microsoft to really just focus on improving their offering from here on out, sans subsequent acquisitions.
 

Godot25

Banned
There was never a real argument anyway
Yes. But even with existing arguments they could have chosen better ones.
Not "Xbox is trying to foreclose Sony by not releasing PS5 version of Minecraft" when even Series X/S version of Minecraft does not exist.
 

Eotheod

Member
Just let me wiiiiiin court of law! You are a big fat meanie, you stink and I hate you! Mum doesn't even love you anyway, she prefers politician dick swinging because that's true justice!
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Obviously people don’t care but the judge made a mockery of the standard the FTC’s argument was beholden to and now that MS go their way even if the FTC had the perfect argument and case some judge would consider breaking of ABK from MS irresponsible to the employees.

It was rigged and it is rigged.
A mockery? Wasn't it just one word and the interpretation of what that meant?
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Obviously people don’t care but the judge made a mockery of the standard the FTC’s argument was beholden to and now that MS go their way even if the FTC had the perfect argument and case some judge would consider breaking of ABK from MS irresponsible to the employees.

It was rigged and it is rigged.
The FTC made a poor showing in front of Corley. They were unprepared and they were shredded for it. The system worked the way it was supposed to. The FTC's biggest problem, and the reason they're losing so many cases, is believing that they set the standards for mergers and acquisitions. But they don't and they never have.

The FTC got shot down for trying to rig the process in their favor and the judge wasn't buying it.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
'Class of consumers'

We did it guys. No more gamers, we are class of consumers.

Do names matter? We're all part of the Xbox family anyway.
 

Fake

Gold Member
Do names matter?

Well, depends. For example, when Kotaku write an article about how us 'Gamers' are toxic, they should refer to us using the correct pronouns 'Class of consumers' first or else we can call them bigots.
 

Shake Your Rump

Gold Member
The deal is obviously anti-competitive, this is why Microsoft is so desperate to do it.

The problem is that the courts only seem to look at consumer prices for determining “competitiveness”. This overlooks all the other harmful effects on the industry.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Anyone know how to get a job at the FTC?

Looks like job security for life. Get destroyed at every major court case, but somehow keep employed trying to reopen cases over and over again.
 
Top Bottom