Support NeoGAF

[Ar¢tos]

No regulator would have reason to block an Eastern developer or publisher because Microsoft trails so heavily behind Sony and Nintendo in those markets. Plus, those games going exclusive wouldn't have a material impact in the west (where Sony and Microsoft are closer, which is why this acquisition is running into trouble).

For example, let's say Square was being acquired, and their flagship IP is Final Fantasy. Even if 50% of Final Fantasy gamers on Playstation would abandon the Playstation for the Xbox, that would only amount to a small percentage of actual Playstation players, therefore it wouldn't have a material impact on Sony. Especially since Final Fantasy has MANY competitors at the same quality of Final Fantasy.

You're right that Sony would probably want to bid on any east publisher Microsoft wants to acquire, but a publicly traded company has to do their fiduciary duty and get their shareholders the best possible price. And as many have pointed out, that 2 trillion dollar company was willing to spend almost as much as Sony's entire market cap on this one acquisition, I think they'd outbid Sony within reason. Publisher's personal feelings on who they think would be a good steward for their IP wouldn't be relevant either as it would really come down to shareholders wanting to maximize the profit on their investment.

The problem with buying Square is the amount of money you spend for a single IP that isn't even a proper IP, it's just a title, because the games don't share much in common (outside of certain names and specific creatures - Cid, moggle, chocobo, etc), you even have non rpgs called Final Fantasy.

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

Pretty much all of what Heisenberg007 posted on the JP side. You think just because their market cap isn't high that the regulators won't take a look?

They'll take a look, but what would stop the deal? What's the rationale behind a block? The biggest JRPG doesn't sell nearly as much as Call of Duty, Fifa or GTA. Which means even in the event of an exclusivity strategy, it wouldn't have a material impact on Microsoft's competitors (namely Sony). When you look at why this deal is running into trouble and ask yourself, would they run into the same trouble with any number of smaller publishers, the answer is no.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Microsoft has said they want to break into the Japanese market. They can't do that without the games that that market gravitates towards. The Publisher selling doesn't care about their protifitability after the sale, that would be Microsoft's problem.

You're acting as if it's an impossibility. I'm not saying it's likely, but I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft pucks up a eastern publisher. Also there are plenty other "western" devs that could be up for grabs.

Microsoft has been saying that for the Japanese market for years now. Now, it's an ever-shrinking market there.

Anyway, to close this discussion: is there a theoretical possibility of what you're saying might happen? Yes, absolutely, there is always a possibility things may happen.

But it just doesn't make financial or logical sense that Xbox will be able to pour in billions of $ to acquire a Japanese publisher when their fans don't want those Japanese products -- and even Sony will be keeping an eye out on any such moves.

 

[TheGodfather07]

There's still people thinking the deal will go through? How? Will Microsoft still go ahead just to save themselves embarrassment? What the heck is the point of buying them when you have no control over the ip? There's no point to this acquisition anymore. We all know it was always about call of duty and having control of the ip after a few years. Originally Microsoft wanted full control after only 3 years. Meaning they could have had call of duty as an exclusive going into their next consoles cycle. That was their plan with this acquisition.

 

[Three]

The super hardcore COD fans do not give a shit about what platform they play on

They care about an extra skin or extra gun or anything extra that they can get by playing on a specific platform

What percentage of the COD playerbase is the super hardcore COD fans? In the MS response they seem to imply (imply because the actual values are redacted) that very few actually care about those things.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Maybe this has been covered, but what are the odds for the Call of Duty studios to survive on their own?

• No funding from ATVI for projects
• CoD tech, engine, and assets will belong to ATVI
• They will be in competition with ATVI, who most likely will use all of the CoD assets in a new game.
• The whole idea about structural remedies being easier to manage doesnt really work if the divested studio makes an exclusive deal years later, f ex with a platform holder. Back to square one.

It looks to me like the CMA threw the CoD developers under a bus, I mean they are going to have to start from scratch just like any other new studio. Or will the divested studios also own all of the tech and assets related to CoD? How is anyone going to decide what they can keep or not. It sounds like a mess to figure out.

They'll look at whether it's possible to divest COD in a way which won't affect operations or the market. In practice that would mean Activision would need to go

 

[Three]

There's still people thinking the deal will go through? How? Will Microsoft still go ahead just to save themselves embarrassment? What the heck is the point of buying them when you have no control over the ip? There's no point to this acquisition anymore. We all know it was always about call of duty and having control of the ip after a few years. Originally Microsoft wanted full control after only 3 years. Meaning they could have had call of duty as an exclusive going into their next consoles cycle. That was their plan with this acquisition.

With remedies. It's not impossible.

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

Microsoft has been saying that for the Japanese market for years now. Now, it's an ever-shrinking market there.

Anyway, to close this discussion: is there a theoretical possibility of what you're saying might happen? Yes, absolutely, there is always a possibility things may happen.

But it just doesn't make financial or logical sense that Xbox will be able to pour in billions of $ to acquire a Japanese publisher when their fans don't want those Japanese products -- and even Sony will be keeping an eye out on any such moves.

Capcom has many popular franchises that do well in the west. These aren't my hopes and dreams or anything, it's just a reality check that just because this deal is most likely getting blocked, doesn't stop Microsoft's acquisition spree in it's tracks. If anything, it gives Microsoft a better idea of what acquistions would be safe to go after.

 

[SneakersSO]

Yes, because that's what I said.

Microsoft has hit a road block in their strategy. You would be naive to think this road block means they'll give up on future acquistions. It's not like this acquistion being blocked means all future acquistions will be blocked. There is quite clearly a line being drawn at what acquisitions would and wouldn't stand a chance at going through.

Publishers with megalithic IP like Call of Duty, GTA, Fortnite, Fifa.. those are off the table. Smaller publishers that have a track record of engaging in exclusivity are on the table. That includes publishers like Square Enix. I don't exactly know what Microsoft will go for if this acquisition is successfully blocked, but they'll have at most 66B to shop around with.

I don't think this hurdle stops Microsoft in their tracks, if anything they'll be looking for content to fill the shoes Call of Duty would have.

There is no world where MS is thinking "Well shucks, that didn't work, but hey! now we have a freed up $66b to spend on gaming!". The economic factors that even drove this sale at the very end of 2021 when it was being brokered are completely different now, as is the outlook for Xbox internally. I personally know there are very pointed questions in Redmand going on regarding leadership and failure to execute given how much was already invested into the division, contrasted to the results they are seeing.

This ATVI sale was a 1-in-a-million shot that no one really saw coming, that came from Kotick's need to preserve his legacy. The biggest problem MS had is they seemingly went into this process fully counting on them being rubber stamped and for the whole industry to do that crony capitalism thing and not have anyone try to block it.

Even by your logic - you say that mega-IP are off the table, then immediately say that MS is gonna go looking for something to fill the shoes that CoD would have; anything that would be the size of CoD is off the table. MS is not gonna buy SE, Capcom, or Bamco. The only two publishers that are left that fall under your criteria that are up for grabs are Sega and Ubisoft, and who even knows if they want to sell, Sega in particular. Ubisoft likely winds up selling to Amazon before MS (Amazon is highly invested in Tom Clancy IP, and Ubisoft owns the rights to the Tom Clancy name).

I really don't think MS is gonna go out of their way for anything large or mid-size after this. You don't put your whole biz-dev strategy on hold for 12-18 months then immediately say 'lets dive back in!'. They need to deliver, they know they need to, and this entire thing has done nothing but distract. They are drawing ever close to the end of the timeline they were given to turn this whole thing around (2017-2027).

Microsoft has said they want to break into the Japanese market. They can't do that without the games that that market gravitates towards. The Publisher selling doesn't care about their protifitability after the sale, that would be Microsoft's problem.

You're acting as if it's an impossibility. I'm not saying it's likely, but I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft pucks up a eastern publisher. Also there are plenty other "western" devs that could be up for grabs.

MS has claimed they have been trying to break into JP for forever, but buying a JP dev doesn't necessarily get them that, nor is that an option they may even have available to them. Not just that, but you're totally ignoring that Sony will probably come up and borrow money should either Capcom or SE hit the sale block. Capcom is still a family owned business, and the family just went out and got Saudi investment - they probably don't have any immediate want to sell. SE is being heavily invested into by Sony, so much so that there have been rumors swirling that Sony actually bought SE. Bamco is a possibility, but their licenses from non-gaming sectors would make that a very complicated buy, to say the least. The only real big JP player left would be Sega, which I discussed above, and FromSoftware/Kadokawa, but Sony is a big investor of Kadokawa, and I know for a fact that Sony is the one eyeing that purchase right now.

Does this mean that MS might just turn around and buy Asobo instead? Maybe. Seems like an obvious choice that won't be too scrutinized. But I also just don't think they are gonna have an appetite for any further buys after this.

 

[NickFire]

There's still people thinking the deal will go through? How? Will Microsoft still go ahead just to save themselves embarrassment? What the heck is the point of buying them when you have no control over the ip? There's no point to this acquisition anymore. We all know it was always about call of duty and having control of the ip after a few years. Originally Microsoft wanted full control after only 3 years. Meaning they could have had call of duty as an exclusive going into their next consoles cycle. That was their plan with this acquisition.

It might go through. But I wouldn’t put much stock in what people are saying behind the scenes. They are mostly hoping it goes through cause $.

Guessing like everyone else, but I’m expecting the regulators all insist on some sort of divestment. They won’t say no behavioral before seeing the offer from MS to avoid prejudging the options MS will present. But unless the regulators decide they are cool with monitoring behavioral remedies for a decade or longer, they would need companies like Sony to do their jobs for them on the monitoring end. Which I bet they will ultimately say is not a proper delegation of their authority, nor something that would really protect the interests of consumers.

 

[adamsapple]

A lot of people behind the scenes are still very confident its going through as well

Not surprising. This is the remedy talk phase everyone had been talking about for half a year now.

 

[harry mason 1989]

OH, WOE IS ME!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!

I think this account is a bot
No way this idiot is actually a real person
Most reeeee users left the thread
Only 10 crazy xbox fans and idas are still engaging in that dumb thread lol

 

[demigod]

Capcom has many popular franchises that do well in the west. These aren't my hopes and dreams or anything, it's just a reality check that just because this deal is most likely getting blocked, doesn't stop Microsoft's acquisition spree in it's tracks. If anything, it gives Microsoft a better idea of what acquistions would be safe to go after.

You've been brainwashed by reeeeee.

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

There is no world where MS is thinking "Well shucks, that didn't work, but hey! now we have a freed up $66b to spend on gaming!". The economic factors that even drove this sale at the very end of 2021 when it was being brokered are completely different now, as is the outlook for Xbox internally. I personally know there are very pointed questions in Redmand going on regarding leadership and failure to execute given how much was already invested into the division, contrasted to the results they are seeing.

This ATVI sale was a 1-in-a-million shot that no one really saw coming, that came from Kotick's need to preserve his legacy. The biggest problem MS had is they seemingly went into this process fully counting on them being rubber stamped and for the whole industry to do that crony capitalism thing and not have anyone try to block it.

Even by your logic - you say that mega-IP are off the table, then immediately say that MS is gonna go looking for something to fill the shoes that CoD would have; anything that would be the size of CoD is off the table. MS is not gonna buy SE, Capcom, or Bamco. The only two publishers that are left that fall under your criteria that are up for grabs are Sega and Ubisoft, and who even knows if they want to sell, Sega in particular. Ubisoft likely winds up selling to Amazon before MS (Amazon is highly invested in Tom Clancy IP, and Ubisoft owns the rights to the Tom Clancy name).

I really don't think MS is gonna go out of their way for anything large or mid-size after this. You don't put your whole biz-dev strategy on hold for 12-18 months then immediately say 'lets dive back in!'. They need to deliver, they know they need to, and this entire thing has done nothing but distract. They are drawing ever close to the end of the timeline they were given to turn this whole thing around (2017-2027).

We differ on what we think Microsoft will do and their motives moving forward. I agree however that they won't use the 66B, but even 1/3rd of that is 22B, which they could do a lot with.

I believe they still view Gamepass as a way to get access to billions of people in the future. They're not just going to roll over, they'll do their best to grab as many good devs and IP as they can to drive Gamepass growth. But I guess we'll see what happens in the coming years (assuming this deal is blocked).

 

[demigod]

Not surprising. This is the remedy talk phase everyone had been talking about for half a year now.

Yeah they've been talking about it for half a year but none of us have heard it except you. Did you meet those people during your vacation?

 

[Heisenberg007]

We differ on what we think Microsoft will do and their motives moving forward. I agree however that they won't use the 66B, but even 1/3rd of that is 22B, which they could do a lot with.

I believe they still view Gamepass as a way to get access to billions of people in the future. They're not just going to roll over, they'll do their best to grab as many good devs and IP as they can to drive Gamepass growth. But I guess we'll see what happens in the coming years (assuming this deal is blocked).

Yes, that may happen. But I think 2-3 years of continuously missing growth targets could also have changed their views now.

Will be interesting to see their strategies and changes in the department (structurally or to personnel) if the acquisition fails. That might indicate what they might be planning to do.

 

[Ezekiel_]

We differ on what we think Microsoft will do and their motives moving forward. I agree however that they won't use the 66B, but even 1/3rd of that is 22B, which they could do a lot with.

I believe they still view Gamepass as a way to get access to billions of people in the future. They're not just going to roll over, they'll do their best to grab as many good devs and IP as they can to drive Gamepass growth. But I guess we'll see what happens in the coming years (assuming this deal is blocked).

Yes, we also don't expect them to change their stripes and abandon their anti-competitive ways.

Hopefully regulators around the world will stay vigilant and ensure consumers are protected.

 

[Orbital2060]

They'll look at whether it's possible to divest COD in a way which won't affect operations or the market. In practice that would mean Activision would need to go

Why would Activision have to go..?

There will most likely be changes to the studio structures, and how many people still have a job after the divestiture. It might go both ways, expansion or downsizing, but there are still a worrying amount of variables that need to determined for this to work out well for the related CoD studios.

 

[SneakersSO]

We differ on what we think Microsoft will do and their motives moving forward. I agree however that they won't use the 66B, but even 1/3rd of that is 22B, which they could do a lot with.

I believe they still view Gamepass as a way to get access to billions of people in the future. They're not just going to roll over, they'll do their best to grab as many good devs and IP as they can to drive Gamepass growth. But I guess we'll see what happens in the coming years (assuming this deal is blocked).

What path does GP have to billions of users? GP has yet to hit the sub ceiling that XBLG has, and has one of the worst churn rates in all of entertainment subscription services. Not only that, but right now, all fiscal entities are looking to hold or drop their positions on subscription entertainment - there are stories coming out of Financial groups about this, that the market on entertainment sub services is massively cooling.

In order for Game Pass to hit this hypothetical ceiling of billions of users, GP needs to broaden and encompass far more than just 'core gaming' users and their interests. There aren't a billion people playing CoD, or Halo, or any of these core games we love and talk about on gaming forums such as this. Even Phil himself has said that on console, they are nearing their growth ceiling, and console users represent over 90% of all GP sub owners. Getting CoD, or any other game that is published by the likes of Sega/Capcom/SE/Ubisoft or even the big dogs like EA/T2/Epic will not get them to 5x or 10x their current user base. They would need an entirely new medium to be encompassed into game pass - movies, shows, music - in order to even begin to try and reach those numbers. It took a pandemic for them to break one of their biggest internal milestones!

 

[Thirty7ven]

Why would Activision have to go..?

There will most likely be changes to the studio structures, and how many people still have a job after the divestiture. It might go both ways, expansion or downsizing, but there are still a worrying amount of variables that need to determined for this to work out well for the related CoD studios.

They have to maintain the structure that currently supports COD. This is not just an IP thing.

 

[NickFire]

What path does GP have to billions of users? GP has yet to hit the sub ceiling that XBLG has, and has one of the worst churn rates in all of entertainment subscription services. Not only that, but right now, all fiscal entities are looking to hold or drop their positions on subscription entertainment - there are stories coming out of Financial groups about this, that the market on entertainment sub services is massively cooling.

In order for Game Pass to hit this hypothetical ceiling of billions of users, GP needs to broaden and encompass far more than just 'core gaming' users and their interests. There aren't a billion people playing CoD, or Halo, or any of these core games we love and talk about on gaming forums such as this. Even Phil himself has said that on console, they are nearing their growth ceiling, and console users represent over 90% of all GP sub owners. Getting CoD, or any other game that is published by the likes of Sega/Capcom/SE/Ubisoft or even the big dogs like EA/T2/Epic will not get them to 5x or 10x their current user base. They would need an entirely new medium to be encompassed into game pass - movies, shows, music - in order to even begin to try and reach those numbers. It took a pandemic for them to break one of their biggest internal milestones!

Billions might be puffery talk. Or a nice way to say we want to dominate the entire industry across the planet.

Another poster has brought up the office. Cant buy it anymore. Why? Because the company that owns GP once decided Office would be subs only going forward.

Now imagine they keep buying big pubs. Once consolidated and 10 yr deals (or whatever) run out, they say no more competitor platforms. Give that a few years, decrease options elsewhere, and then tell everyone subs only from now on. Where’s the consumer going to go?

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

You've been brainwashed by reeeeee.

The main opinion over there is that this deal is alive and well. Immediately when the CMA released their PF I called the deal dead. I give it a 5% max chance of going through.

Looking at the facts though; Call of Duty is why this is being blocked, the effect an exclusivity strategy that franchise would have on competitors is material enough to cause concern. There are only a few other IP big enough to cause the same concern. Microsoft has stated that they were still looking to acquire more even after ABK. They won't use the entirety of the 70B that was for this deal, but even a fraction of that is enough to buy a lot.

I gave the example that Microsoft could buy Kadokawa, Capcom and Square Enix at double what they're currently worth and it would only amount to half of what the ABK deal is worth. (This isn't to say I think that's likely or that I hope that happens, it's literally just to show the staggering cost of ABK)

I believe Microsoft still has the incentive, resources and better knowledge on which publishers would run into anti-trust issues to pursue acquisitions moving forward.

If you all believe that Microsoft is done and anything they do will be blocked, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. We'll see what happens in the next few years regardless.

 

[Thirty7ven]

A lot of people behind the scenes are still very confident its going through as well

The goalposts have moved so much. From going through without a hitch, to going through without remedies, to going through without divestment.

 

[adamsapple]

Yeah they've been talking about it for half a year but none of us have heard it except you. Did you meet those people during your vacation?

Exclusive: Microsoft likely to offer EU concessions soon in Activision deal -sources

Microsoft is likely to offer remedies to EU antitrust regulators in the coming weeks to stave off formal objections to its $69 billion bid for "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard , people familiar with the matter said.

www.reuters.com

We've all seen these articles in this very topic but please feel free to keep your fingers in your ears.

 

[POKEYCLYDE]

Yes, we also don't expect them to change their stripes and abandon their anti-competitive ways.

Hopefully regulators around the world will stay vigilant and ensure consumers are protected.

It is pretty clear what the line is for these regulators. The prevailing opinion was that the FTC would get stomped in court. The EC was okay with behavioral remedies and the CMA gave their opinions on this acquistion, their reasoning doesn't really extend to all AAA games, just ones that would have a material effect on competitors.

What path does GP have to billions of users?

No clue. If I had to guess, cloud and mobile would be how they get their. Regardless, it's a future Microsoft is pursuing and the way they're pursuing it is through content acquisition.

 

[demigod]

http://[URL]https://www.reuters.com...ions-soon-activision-deal-sources-2022-11-28/

[/URL]


We've all seen these articles in this very topic but please feel free to keep your fingers in your ears.

So where are the concessions? How come we haven't heard anything from the CMA on these so called concessions? Also how you get half a year since End of November?

 

[jm89]

Exclusive: Microsoft likely to offer EU concessions soon in Activision deal -sources

Microsoft is likely to offer remedies to EU antitrust regulators in the coming weeks to stave off formal objections to its $69 billion bid for "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard , people familiar with the matter said.

www.reuters.com

We've all seen these articles in this very topic but please feel free to keep your fingers in your ears.

This is what it says

Microsoft (MSFT.O) is likely to offer remedies to EU antitrust regulators in the coming weeks to stave off formal objections to its $69 billion bid for "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O), people familiar with the matter said.

Looks like whatever remedies they offered early on didn't work, so it actually isn't the same remedies as they got a statement of objection only recently.

All according to plan of course.

 

[Neo_game]

There's still people thinking the deal will go through? How? Will Microsoft still go ahead just to save themselves embarrassment? What the heck is the point of buying them when you have no control over the ip? There's no point to this acquisition anymore. We all know it was always about call of duty and having control of the ip after a few years. Originally Microsoft wanted full control after only 3 years. Meaning they could have had call of duty as an exclusive going into their next consoles cycle. That was their plan with this acquisition.

They might simply agree to all terms and condition just to save their faces. I am not sure why is this so important for them but they seem desperate.

 

[adamsapple]

So where are the concessions? How come we haven't heard anything from the CMA on these so called concessions?

You can always tweet and ask them, I don't know or think that they make every remedy offered public.

Also how you get half a year since End of November?

It's a figure of speech, there have been articles like that around for a while, that's just the quickest google search.

Looks like whatever remedies they offered early on didn't work, so it actually isn't the same remedies as they got a statement of objection only recently.

They never offered any remedies at the end of the phase 1 of investigations. That much we already know.

 

[jm89]

They never offered any remedies at the end of the phase 1 of investigations. That much we already know.

You said this

Not surprising. This is the remedy talk phase everyone had been talking about for half a year now.

And then linked that article which was talking about remedies before the statement of objection. Your article doesn't back up what your were saying.

 

[X-Wing]

PlayStation and Square-Enix are owned by the same shareholders already.

 

[The_Mike]

Who is left for Microsoft to buy in the West?

• Take 2 - they will run into the same problems as ABK
• EA - same issues + they'd be eliminating a competitor in the nascent cloud gaming segment.
• Ubisoft - Good luck with that. Reportedly Ubisoft tried but everyone refused to buy it. No one wants 20K employees to layoff and manage and a failing business on top. Tencent now owns almost 49.9% shares.
• Embracer -- that's an option, yes, but can Xbox really afford to manage 132 development studios when they couldn't manage 5?

Then everything else is in the East where (1) Xbox will face unprecedented pushback, and (2) it wouldn't even make financial sense because Xbox represents less than 10% to 20% of the consumer base and community of those publishers:

• Square Enix
• Capcom
• Bandai Namco
• Koei Tecmo
• Sega
• Konami

Besides, if they make even the smallest move on any of this, Sony would join the bidding competition and likely close the acquisition with ease.

Given Microsoft aren't allowed to buy developers, none.

 

[Mephisto40]

There's still people thinking the deal will go through? How? Will Microsoft still go ahead just to save themselves embarrassment? What the heck is the point of buying them when you have no control over the ip? There's no point to this acquisition anymore. We all know it was always about call of duty and having control of the ip after a few years. Originally Microsoft wanted full control after only 3 years. Meaning they could have had call of duty as an exclusive going into their next consoles cycle. That was their plan with this acquisition.

It is a bit bizzare, because Microsoft stand to make money if they just buy the IP's and put the games on all platforms with some sort of exclusivity deal

My only guess is that activision are looking to sell the company completely or nothing

 

[Three]

What path does GP have to billions of users? GP has yet to hit the sub ceiling that XBLG has, and has one of the worst churn rates in all of entertainment subscription services. Not only that, but right now, all fiscal entities are looking to hold or drop their positions on subscription entertainment - there are stories coming out of Financial groups about this, that the market on entertainment sub services is massively cooling.

In order for Game Pass to hit this hypothetical ceiling of billions of users, GP needs to broaden and encompass far more than just 'core gaming' users and their interests. There aren't a billion people playing CoD, or Halo, or any of these core games we love and talk about on gaming forums such as this. Even Phil himself has said that on console, they are nearing their growth ceiling, and console users represent over 90% of all GP sub owners. Getting CoD, or any other game that is published by the likes of Sega/Capcom/SE/Ubisoft or even the big dogs like EA/T2/Epic will not get them to 5x or 10x their current user base. They would need an entirely new medium to be encompassed into game pass - movies, shows, music - in order to even begin to try and reach those numbers. It took a pandemic for them to break one of their biggest internal milestones!

I think CoD is sought after by MS to stop that churn rate and less about reaching billions of users. The only other way I see billions of users is if MS actually believe they can create a gamepass on mobile that rivals Apple arcade, and I don't mean via xCloud. I mean mobile games like Diablo Immortal, Candy Crush, Cod Mobile, etc are given perks with Gamepass or put behind it entirely (though I see that as unlikely).

 

[3liteDragon]

Why I think the deal’s likely dead is cause MS might pull out if divestiture is the only option in the end, they’re still thinking the 10-year agreement they promised is enough. They’re not gonna wanna go through with the deal if they have to divest Activision, the whole “we’re doing this for mobile/King” stuff is BS & everyone knows it. They’re paying $69B for the whole package & most importantly for Call of Duty & they might not even get that in the end.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Sony would also be blocked trying to buy Activision, there’s no favourites here, Activision is just that important.

It's so sad how painfully obtuse people are to this. Remove the fanatical cocks from your asses for one moment.

 

[adamsapple]

You said this


And then linked that article which was talking about remedies before the statement of objection. Your article doesn't back up what your were saying.

"likely to offer".

We've also had EC reps say the deal will be likely to pass with remedies months ago, I can't find the exact article but it's buried somewhere in this mammoth topic.

 

[DrFigs]

I think CoD is sought after by MS to stop that churn rate and less about reaching billions of users. The only other way I see billions of users is if MS actually believe they can create a gamepass on mobile that rivals Apple arcade, and I don't mean via xCloud. I mean mobile games like Diablo Immortal, Candy Crush, Cod Mobile, etc are given perks with Gamepass or put behind it entirely (though I see that as unlikely).

The whole model doesn't really make sense to me. Why would you need gamepass when you could just do these free to play games and heavily monetize it? You reach a lot more people - closer to the billion number for sure. Offering any type of perks for these games from having gamepass (like for example if COD mobile introduced a subsidized battlepass from GP), could just serve to make these games less profitable.

 

[Orbital2060]

They have to maintain the structure that currently supports COD. This is not just an IP thing.

Who is going to decide what that even means - the CMA and Sony? Maintain the structure how? You have to be a lot more specific than this.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

"likely to offer".

We've also had EC reps say the deal will be likely to pass with remedies months ago, I can't find the exact article but it's buried somewhere in this mammoth topic.

Lol yeah, pretty sure no EU rep has said such a thing

 

[DeepEnigma]

The man represents hedge funds that are invested in this succeeding. GHG brought the receipts. I bet he doesn't disclose that, does he?

His words are the same energy as Satya and Kotick saying they're still "confident" as they go on TV and make fools of themselves with Japan comments and sounding like utter children appealing to "woe is me" emotion of a 2Trilly dollar company, coming off as not very confident at all, while raising the tone of their voices and sweat is dripping from their brows.

 

[adamsapple]

Lol yeah, pretty sure no EU rep has said such a thing

I'll try to find it, it was one of the body reps who said something along those lines. Will update if/when I find.

 

[Pelta88]

When they keep talking about EU remedies but forget that the CMA has essentially killed the deal.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

It is a bit bizzare, because Microsoft stand to make money if they just buy the IP's and put the games on all platforms with some sort of exclusivity deal

My only guess is that activision are looking to sell the company completely or nothing

Yes, I think it's clear that Kotick was looking to sell ATVI. We don't know what the internal financial situation of the company really is but they seem pretty aware that CoD is the vast majority of revenue and profit. ATVI has little value if you remove CoD.

 

[GHG]

The man represents hedge funds that are invested in this succeeding. GHG brought the receipts. I bet he doesn't disclose that, does he?

His words are the same energy as Satya and Kotick saying they're still "confident" as they go on TV and make fools of themselves with Japan comments and sounding like utter children appealing to "woe is me" emotion of a 2Trilly dollar company, coming off as not very confident at all, while raising the tone of their voices and sweat is dripping from their brows.

People don't want to hear it.

It's like when Warren Buffet disclosed they (Berkshire Hathaway) had bought shares. Then the next 13f comes out and it turns out that during the same quarter they were doing the media rounds telling people they had bought they were actually offloading shares. Where were the headlines in the media after the 13f released to tell the world he was selling?

As long as these people are careful with the words they use nobody ever holds them accountable. And the people who can actually enforce things, the SEC, well... :

My advice to everyone when you see these guys who represent hedge funds talking in the media is to track their 13f's. More often than not if they are chatting shit, they're buying. If they're talking something up they are selling. To buy/sell the amounts they do without alerting anyone they need sustained liquidity at or around the price levels they've identified, no better way to do that than to get in the media.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Given Microsoft aren't allowed to buy developers, none.

1. Ninja Theory
2. Obsidian
3. Playground
4. Compulsion Games
5. InXile Entertainment
6. Bethesda Game Studios
7. id Software
8. Arkane
9. Arkane Lyon
10. Machine Games
11. Tango Gameworks
12. Alpha Dog Games
13. Roundhouse Studios

 

[DeepEnigma]

Given Microsoft aren't allowed to buy developers, none.

So disingenuous.

 

[bentanchorbolt]

1. Ninja Theory
2. Obsidian
3. Playground
4. Compulsion Games
5. InXile Entertainment
6. Bethesda Game Studios
7. id Software
8. Arkane
9. Arkane Lyon
10. Machine Games
11. Tango Gameworks
12. Alpha Dog Games
13. Roundhouse Studios

Yeah but... it was different then.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Who is going to decide what that even means - the CMA and Sony? Maintain the structure how? You have to be a lot more specific than this.

It's not difficult to understand. If divesture is the route then they need to investigate whether it's possible to do so in a way that ensures the status quo.

I.e if COD requires Activision then that means Activision also needs to go

 

[The_Mike]

1. Ninja Theory
2. Obsidian
3. Playground
4. Compulsion Games
5. InXile Entertainment
6. Bethesda Game Studios
7. id Software
8. Arkane
9. Arkane Lyon
10. Machine Games
11. Tango Gameworks
12. Alpha Dog Games
13. Roundhouse Studios

Were these before or after the attempting the Acti Blizzard acquisition?

Times changed, and I dont believe they get an easier time buying something in the future.

FTC and CMA has made a new attention on this subject, probably making it was harder for Microsoft.