Holish.. what a twist! CMA blocked Microsoft!

Simple answer: they aren’t winning. And if they do, I’ll take my lumps like you are taking right now

So, it is not over.😂 See, how simple that was.

It's not like they were struggling financially before. They'll take the hit but it'll recover eventually. It's not a bad play. Plus, they'll get a $2-3 billion penalty payment coming from MS if the deal is blocked.

So what is this i'm hearing, someone else has a Phil altar too??

@Zero_epyon: It is down to ~$79. I want it to go lower.😈

I'll be tempted if it went below $70

It might if Diablo 4 tanks for some reason. But, I can't wish that since I know someone who is really looking forward to that game.

What ever happens doesn't take away what we have learn 't about the dodgy nature of Sony.

Very surprising.

I wonder how all the analysists got this so wrong?

The cloud gaming market nascent, and may never materialize in the near future (if at all). Cows in SW, and Sony fanboys everywhere else, decry it all the time (maybe because MS is so far ahead of Sony on it?). So, it's surprising to me that the CMA thinks its such a certain way of the future that they chose to block this deal over it.

As for it being "over", while the CMA does win about 70% of the appeals filed against it, it does lose 30% of the time; and lost yesterday against Apple.

@dabear: since the CMA is blocking this deal due to stupid reasons (seriously, Cloud gaming?), I believe it’s one of the 30% that they will lose.

What analysts?

I don’t like the decision, but I think I understand the reasoning. Cloud gaming hasn’t taken off yet, but the industry has been claiming it’s the future since the OnLive days. These regulators want to ensure competitive parity for emerging technologies, while Xbox is trying to take a stranglehold just in case their service ends up being “the one.” If Xbox was just using their service with their library while making 3rd party deals, regulators would have nothing to say. But Xbox buying gigantic publishers, with an established streaming service and a lock on the PC space with Windows… If cloud gaming hit it’s stride and became the next big thing, Xbox would be in control from day 1.

But the fact that PlayStation has already dabbled in cloud gaming should negate any of these concerns. Google, Amazon, Netflix… There’s been competition and there will continue to be competition. Who do these regulators think they are protecting with this?!?! I get their reasoning, but it doesn’t make sense in the real world. Maybe Xbox didn’t do a good job of making their case? I dunno

TIL cloud gaming is streaming games remotely, and online multiplayer isn't considered cloud gaming.

i've always known cloud as just a buzzword for a networked machine hosted somewhere else, so assumed multiplayer, gaas, digital downloads etc. all fell under that cloud umbrella. apparently not.

so the deals been blocked because the fear is microsoft have the technology and infrastructure to monopolise that cloud gaming market, and consumers need the freedom to buy non microsoft devices to stream games. given stadia flopped hard can only assume this a very long term view, 5-10 years away, when the market and tech have matured to make it viable.

smells a bit fishy to me, but im not really in the detail and dont really care enough to do more research

Even if MS and ABK win their appeal, it would still drag out the process until next year. I'd be curious what action they'd take if they get approval in US/EU with the CMA appeal still dragging out.

Anyhow, considering both EU/UK regulators expressed concerns over cloud caused MS to sign deals with a few cloud streaming services, curious how much attention the CMA gave to those remedies. The EU regulators delayed their review another whole month just to review those cloud deals. It didn't seem to change the CMA review timeline so curious whether they weighed any of those developments.

I’ve never seen so many butthurt lems in one thread before . It has to suck to rely on one gaming company to save their precious little Xbox

@R4gn4r0k: not really it seems like they(Activision) are prepared to pull out of the Uk if they don’t approve the deal.

@randy_lahey: more than likely it still will, if you were paying attention they already had a plan b for if this happens, which was just ignoring the UK in general. If you read Lulu’s tweet you can she is already hinting towards doing that. Sucks for UK gamers but, nobody cares about gamers when this much money is involved.

In real life like everyone beside you resides in, it’s over. But keep on your pedantic mentally unstable shilling Pedro. It is a sight to behold

You’re delusional.

Thing is if activision did take the nuclear option with the the UK market the CMA would be..."leaned on" and this objection would disappear rather quickly.

I just lit all the candles on my Uncle Phil altar, the deal has no chance of failing now.

You are trying so hard to deny the reality that it is very funny to watch. 😂

@randy_lahey: Sony needs regulator support in order to stay alive. They will be doomed in the future. What if Microsoft spends the $68 billion (that they would have spent on Activision) on building their own internal studios instead? Sony won’t be able to block that, and neither will regulators. Sony is doomed if Microsoft spends it on making their own studios, and there is nothing Sony or anybody else can do to stop it.

Sony is doomed if MS spent money developing new studios with the same money. So, why do they need ABK then?🤔

CoD is a 1.5 billion pound franchise in the UK and all time gross revenue only behind FIFA, bigger than Mario, Star Wars or Pokemon games there. Unlikely they pulling out of UK.

This thread in a snap shot

they would not have to pull out of the UK for the games at all.. they would just have to allow ABK to act as a separate entity in the UK or seek a 3rd party publisher in the UK

@above_average said:

This thread in a snap shot

It’s like every other post has that blinking yellow emoji in it. Poor guy…

@Pedro: Buying ABK is merely a shortcut, since it’s normally faster to buy an existing company than create one from scratch. If Microsoft spends $68 billion to build studios with similar size to ABK, then Sony cannot block that from happening. And neither can regulators. Sony will be screwed if that happens.

The crazy thing is, it's not like MS doesn't ALREADY have more 1st party studios than either Sony or Nintendo.

Didn't MS JUST buy (an entire publisher zenimax) Bethesda?

Why are you xbox fools so desperate for MS to buy out the entire game industry before they can feel satisfied about their preferred platform?

MS has never made any franchise they've acquired better than they were before hand. You weren't going to get any NEW games had this deal gone thru, the series would have been put on a revolving wheel just like MS had done with Halo/Gears/Forza for fear of losing money trying new ideas.

So what are you pathetic fanboys crying about here other than MS not being able to take away a long standing franchise from Sony gamers?

NOTHING HAS CHANGED! You still get COD and MS still has more studios than Sony/Nin.

STFU and ask MS to utilize the studios they already have!

Yes! It is faster than starting from scratch but your wording in your last comment read contradictory. If MS goal was to destroy Sony and making their own studios from scratch would achieve without regulations, then ABK purchase wouldn't make sense or be required. But, that is not the case.

I see that Sony fannies alts are fishing for a meltdown and are frustrated that it is not happening.😂

Lol, it's pretty easy to see who was really hoping this deal would happen. It's like 'yay, big corporations, they give my life meaning'.

Damn weirdos.

On the 'net, it was predicted that the CMA would approve it.

@lavamelon: More likely they'll just piecemeal smaller devs instead of buying up another big pub or starting a bunch of studios that won't produce content for 3 - 5 years.

I was right🤭

Holy shit watching this Pedro spin is the ultimate satisfaction. Bu bu but teh appeals process!

Do Amazon and Netflix operate in the UK?

bu bu CMA doesn't understand the definition of what a monopoly is!

LMAO

@randy_lahey: It's about time.

Every topic over the last few months from the xboys ended up being, "When MS takes COD away from Sony they won't be able to fund any more AAA games for you to play haha".

Now these guys will have to find new material to stitch together their flimsy arguments instead of using this one trick pony to salvage their failing debates.

Xboys better hope June 11th reveals more than just Forza release date for this year

Going to be interesting to see what smaller acquisitions Microsoft goes after when this deal is truly done and the appeal process has been exhausted.

more acquisition begging from the usuals around here. How bout this, and just hear me out I know it sounds insane, but perhaps they could use that money to invest internally and create some new IP or at the very least learn how to put quality titles out at a decent pace? I know that's crazy!

@randy_lahey: Interesting how you read that I’m doing any begging in my comment there. 🤔

easy, I've seen Ubisoft publish Microsoft games in the past.

Look at my biggest fan go.

@Pedro said:

Look at my biggest fan go.

Lol only person spinning per usual is yourself 🤡. The fact that you don’t have the self awareness to dip out of this thread for a bit is astonishing!

And continues to spin.😂

@regnaston: I know but those aren’t my words, that’s just what’s been going around ever since MS stated publicly they are not interested in a divesture. Read the end of Lulu’s tweet. If that happens though it wouldn’t sit well with me personally. I always saw the Activision deal as Ms admitting defeat and it’s their own fault. After the PS3 era with Uncharted and the Last of Us Ms should have known that they needed new engaging ip’s to keep up, nope, what ‘d they do just keep flooding us with Halo, Forza, and Gears and anything they tried outside of those three you could tell they didn’t put the effort into actually trying to make these projects actually good. Now you just want to buy Activision because you chose to not innovate. Weak bro, I honestly wouldn’t be mad if Ms left the gaming industry at this point as long as they don’t sell to the Chinese govern- I mean Tencent.