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[Mozza]

This is the tragedy of the decision. As a PlayStation only gamer, I'm not shedding tears for Sony. This deal would be just as shitty if it had been them trying to buy ABK instead of Microsoft. What we've seen happen pretty much around the world is that regulators and courts have now weighed in that there is nothing anti-competitive or anti-consumer about a platform holder buying out a major segment of the industry and potentially locking its content behind their own iron curtain. Microsoft has made "pledges" to keep ABK content on PlayStation and to bring it to Nintendo. But there's no legal obligation for them to do so and let's be brutally honest. MS can afford to leave the many, many billions of dollars on the table by locking Sony out of the content. Sure, it would be very expensive, but they can afford it and may very well see it as the cost of doing business, long-term. Their goal, like any player, is to make their competition irrelevant if not force them out of the space altogether. Anyone thinking Sony wouldn't love to do the same is kidding themselves--the only difference is Sony does not have the resources to push Microsoft out. Microsoft can buy and sell Sony dozens of times over.

Regardless of what MS does or doesn't do with ABK content, the real story here is that legal precedent has now been set. It will be much harder for regulators to bring suit or seek injunctions against further acquisitions from any players in the space, even Microsoft. There would need to be proof that allowing the acquisitions would create a monopoly. Typically, when courts and regulators fail the public in this spectacular a fashion, the only restitution is after the fact. The monopoly is actually allowed to occur, and then government decides "hey wait a minute..."

You can expect a lot of buying out across the board from all sorts of players at the first and third party level, mass-consolidation and very likely attempts to setup iron curtains as platform holders seek to defend themselves. "Oh yeah? Well if you don't give us Game X, you won't get Game Y!" There's a nasty mess coming, and the loser won't be Sony, it will be gamers everywhere.

You lost me when you said you were a Playstation only gamer.

 

[Nubulax]

None of this was ever about the cloud or protecting the industry or gamers, even though those were the reasons given, it was always about protecting the market leader, who have always been the main objector to this whole deal in the first place. This deal will be great for the industry and gamers as a whole, just not a great for Sony and it's fans.

Can someone actually explain WHY this deal is "great for the industry and gamers as a whole" instead of ABK just remaining 3rd party. Are we going to pretend that COD on a new nintendo system wouldnt have happened anyway and Bobby wouldnt have chased all that $$$.

 

[xHunter]

You lost me when you said you were a Playstation only gamer.

Thats a shitty attitude tbh, the post shows valid concerns about the future of this industry.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

If MS actually try subvert the CMA's decision and close the acquisition against it I genuinely hope the subsequent fines, asset seizures, financial sanctions, and other assorted responses deployed by the UK government are so severe that MS execs are forced to shutter the Xbox divsion and beg on their collective knees for a reprieve before their shareholders have them executed.

What a turn on

 

[Bernoulli]

This corporate shill?

 

[Tomcat]

Do you have proof??

Don't you know playstation players have high end PCs?

 

[Elios83]

There is no point for Microsoft to settle with FTC. FTC can burn all their budget with 0 results and it won't change anything.

They can still avoid to go into further legal battles, they can cancel all risks (as small as they can be) that something weird happens after the acquisition is closed (when/if).
But yeah they could also afford the "do whatever you want" approach as you say.

Tom Warren's takes change dramatically hourly it seems. All eyes on CAT because it might reveal where CMA's going with all this. That's the big question really. Is CMA using this as a delay tactic? Using it to back out of their block? Hard to get a handle on it for me.

But imo CMA isn't going to say anything of that during that CAT hearing.
They will only explain that they decided before their final order is issued to do an other mini probe over a new restructured deal proposal.
The interesting question would be why they seemed to fear the appeal so much and which are the reasons why they're giving this case this special treatment but I doubt we'll get the truth on the answer (aka: they needed to surrender to a compromise with all the political pressure they had on their shoulders).

 

[Goblinlinguitic]

This is the tragedy of the decision. As a PlayStation only gamer, I'm not shedding tears for Sony. This deal would be just as shitty if it had been them trying to buy ABK instead of Microsoft. What we've seen happen pretty much around the world is that regulators and courts have now weighed in that there is nothing anti-competitive or anti-consumer about a platform holder buying out a major segment of the industry and potentially locking its content behind their own iron curtain. Microsoft has made "pledges" to keep ABK content on PlayStation and to bring it to Nintendo. But there's no legal obligation for them to do so and let's be brutally honest. MS can afford to leave the many, many billions of dollars on the table by locking Sony out of the content. Sure, it would be very expensive, but they can afford it and may very well see it as the cost of doing business, long-term. Their goal, like any player, is to make their competition irrelevant if not force them out of the space altogether. Anyone thinking Sony wouldn't love to do the same is kidding themselves--the only difference is Sony does not have the resources to push Microsoft out. Microsoft can buy and sell Sony dozens of times over.

Regardless of what MS does or doesn't do with ABK content, the real story here is that legal precedent has now been set. It will be much harder for regulators to bring suit or seek injunctions against further acquisitions from any players in the space, even Microsoft. There would need to be proof that allowing the acquisitions would create a monopoly. Typically, when courts and regulators fail the public in this spectacular a fashion, the only restitution is after the fact. The monopoly is actually allowed to occur, and then government decides "hey wait a minute..."

You can expect a lot of buying out across the board from all sorts of players at the first and third party level, mass-consolidation and very likely attempts to setup iron curtains as platform holders seek to defend themselves. "Oh yeah? Well if you don't give us Game X, you won't get Game Y!" There's a nasty mess coming, and the loser won't be Sony, it will be gamers everywhere.

loser would BE ONLY Sony, gamers everywhere WILL BE FINE

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

If the deal fails it would be a win for gamers, but more importantly it would be a win for me

 

[Ar¢tos]

You’ve shown yourself to be a hypocrite so don’t come at me with that not worth your time nonsense just because you aren’t capable of having an honest conversation. Hurts when your own argument is used against you huh?

People are still blaming ff14 not being on xbox on Sony? Completely ignoring how public it is that it was Xbox position on cross play that caused it?
It's like we are back in 2010...

 

[Mobilemofo]

If MS actually try subvert the CMA's decision and close the acquisition against it I genuinely hope the subsequent fines, asset seizures, financial sanctions, and other assorted responses deployed by the UK government are so severe that MS execs are forced to shutter the Xbox divsion and beg on their collective knees for a reprieve before their shareholders have them executed.

That would be an excellent outcome, for a while.

 

[drganon]

Can someone actually explain WHY this deal is "great for the industry and gamers as a whole" instead of ABK just remaining 3rd party. Are we going to pretend that COD on a new nintendo system wouldnt have happened anyway and Bobby wouldnt have chased all that $$$.

Oh I'm sure him or someone else with come up with some bullshit answer.

 

[HoofHearted]

So......FTC lost?

seriously.......been saying that was going to happen for months.

Was there ever any doubt?

 

[Solidus_T]

People are still blaming ff14 not being on xbox on Sony? Completely ignoring how public it is that it was Xbox position on cross play that caused it?
It's like we are back in 2010...

Revisionist history has been largely used to justify fanboy hatred. It's the same way people compare ABK to Insomniac or Bungie or complain that God of War, developed by SONY Santa Monica is exclusive so CoD should be too, etc. Pure disingenuity.

 

[Topher]

Was there ever any doubt?

 

[HoofHearted]

Look who decided to wake up now.

Coffee is usually required.. I’m only on my first cup….

 

[Topher]

Don't you know playstation players have high end PCs?

I'd guess a lot more PS gamers game on PC than Xbox gamers due to the fact that all Xbox first party games are available on PC as is Game Pass. So there is a lot more coverage of games with PS and PC than PC and Xbox. It would be interesting to see some actual data on that, but I'm not sure if such a study has been performed.

 

[Nubulax]

Yeah, it's the shareholders who voted for this deal want their payout. That's it, it is not some hypothetical other possibility. They want the money they stand to make when the deal closes and there would be serious fallout from a lot of them if the deal doesn't close.

This makes little sense. Many people are coming at this from a fanboy angle or simply wanting cheaper access to CoD on Gamepass. That does not apply on the Sony side. Others want to see MS become more competitive since they are well behind Sony. Sony getting bigger doesn't help that angle. You are just saying that people need to think like you or the exact opposite of you instead of recognizing that this issue is a little more complex than something so binary.

I think the argument that MS is way behind Sony is hilarious considering BEFORE ABK... they have more actual Studios than Playstation and I would argue at bare minimum the same ammount or more IP strength. YET... even with ALL THAT... somehow they couldnt compete... give me a break. How can Sony do it and be successful as a way smaller company yet MS with all its resources cant and has to resort to just hoarding and buying legacy IP and making games that were already going to be on their Platform exclusive then just calling it theirs.

 

[HoofHearted]

Holy fuck. Look at the size of those olives!

Fuck the olives - look at that martini!

 

[Ar¢tos]

Can someone actually explain WHY this deal is "great for the industry and gamers as a whole" instead of ABK just remaining 3rd party. Are we going to pretend that COD on a new nintendo system wouldnt have happened anyway and Bobby wouldnt have chased all that $$$.

The deal is great for the industry because it's going to keep the industry "active" for the next 5-10 years before we get another 80s like crash.
Lots of money moving non stop for years to come!

MS gets ATK, Sony responds with buying someone else, MS buys EA, Sony uses the install base advantage to buy timed exclusives from every independent dev and publisher on the planet, MS buy Take Two, Sony "leaks" dirt on Xbox, MS "leaks" dirt on Sony, gamers get tired of being constantly divided and some give up gaming, others focus on Nintendo only. Sony and Xbox bleed money from the acquisitions and start shutting down studio after studio.
In the end, only Nintendo, that didn't take part on the war and did nothing, remains doing business as usual, completely oblivious of what is going on.

 

[Solidus_T]

I think the argument that MS is way behind Sony is hilarious considering BEFORE ABK... they have more actual Studios than Playstation and I would argue at bare minimum the same ammount or more IP strength. YET... even with ALL THAT... somehow they couldnt compete... give me a break. How can Sony do it and be successful as a way smaller company yet MS with all its resources cant and has to resort to just hoarding and buying legacy IP and making games that were already going to be on their Platform exclusive then just calling it theirs.

It's even funnier that they exclude Nintendo, a company a little more than half the size of ABK, while Nintendo kicks both of their asses in terms of unit sales and mindshare. Granted, most PS owners have a Switch and it may be that way for Xbox too.

 

[HoofHearted]

Just means the FTC lost and the US is no longer blocking the acquisition. CMA is the only one standing in the way now.

CMA live feed:

 

[KingT731]

The process that the CMA follows allows them to do in-depth research and then give the companies (Microsoft in this case) ample time to address their concerns. There is also a clear pathway for elaborate appeals (which is what has been and is currently in motion). The CMA are literally the reason Microsoft agreed to concessions with the EU since at that point it dawned on them that it wasn't going to be plain sailing anymore so they cut a deal with the EU that ultimately proved to be favourable for both parties.

Overall the process that the EU has is very similar to the CMA, the primary difference being that it's less transparent and they they are far more lenient (because they take a more favourable view to dishing out retrospective fines after the damage has been done). It was getting that agreement with the EU which set the wheels in motion for where we are today.

The regulatory process in America is literal chaos. There's no in depth research done by subject matter experts (they don't have the capacity) and then it's all straight to court (which, again, they don't have the capacity for either considering the shocking incompetence of their lawyers).

The major difference being the CMA is actually allowed to do their job rather people agree or disagree they can do that much at least. The FTCn on the other hand has an uphill battle even if the case is assumed to be a "slam dunk" due to the ridiculous circus that is the American legal system.

 

[Nubulax]

Don't you know playstation players have high end PCs?

Dont need to have a "high end" PC to match a Series S.... or even X really... My PC is about on par with an X...I can pay less for gamepass, dont have to pay for online play, and if I wanted to, have better graphics by upgrading a part here or there. PC is the PREMIERE platform to play xbox... sorry if that hurts console owners but its the truth

 

[Duchess]

What's happened to Australia and New Zealand? Last I heard they were delaying their decision. Have they both sided with MS now?

 

[Kilau]

People are still blaming ff14 not being on xbox on Sony? Completely ignoring how public it is that it was Xbox position on cross play that caused it?
It's like we are back in 2010...

That and ignoring that Nintendo still gets exclusives from SE along with MS too. SE are the biggest whores of the industry, they hardly do anything without getting paid first.

 

[Heisenberg007]

What's happened to Australia and New Zealand? Last I heard they were delaying their decision. Have they both sided with MS now?

NZ decides on July 17.

They had concerns but will likely approve.

 

[Solidus_T]

The deal is great for the industry because it's going to keep the industry "active" for the next 5-10 years before we get another 80s like crash.
Lots of money moving non stop for years to come!

MS gets ATK, Sony responds with buying someone else, MS buys EA, Sony uses the install base advantage to buy timed exclusives from every independent dev and publisher on the planet, MS buy Take Two, Sony "leaks" dirt on Xbox, MS "leaks" dirt on Sony, gamers get tired of being constantly divided and some give up gaming, others focus on Nintendo only. Sony and Xbox bleed money from the acquisitions and start shutting down studio after studio.
In the end, only Nintendo, that didn't take part on the war and did nothing, remains doing business as usual, completely oblivious of what is going on.

I actually believe a consolidation war is what will bring on a crash - especially if the main market being pushed by the richest player is a subscription service. We are even seeing this happen in film and shows; streaming services are set for a major crash, especially because the comparative pennies offered to the actual writers and actors themselves. There's no doubt that game budgets would be cut if streaming/subscription services dominate over game sales. Sure, MS will have the most old content, but new content that is actually worth playing will be few and far between, and still it will be unsustainable for the development of new content.

 

[Nubulax]

People are still blaming ff14 not being on xbox on Sony? Completely ignoring how public it is that it was Xbox position on cross play that caused it?
It's like we are back in 2010...

Def true... MS was against cross play during the 360 when they were doing as good or slightly better than PS with PS3 and didnt want to do cross play.... When their marketshare tanked they just for some reason, cant imagine why, wanted to reverse that and have access to a wider playerbase yet people will call out Sony and shit on them for their crossplay policy acting like they are evil when its MS that was the first to be against it and is the reason FF14 isnt on the platform. Its a shame FF14 isnt on there because its an MMO that was actually built with the console in mind

To add to this... The 360 was the best era of Xbox yet all these clowns pretend it doesnt exist and have some blind spot to all the practices that happened during this era in order to justify their arguments and look good

 

[Nubulax]

It's even funnier that they exclude Nintendo, a company a little more than half the size of ABK, while Nintendo kicks both of their asses in terms of unit sales and mindshare. Granted, most PS owners have a Switch and it may be that way for Xbox too.

Nintendo is a tough one for me..... The problem lies in 1...its usually not pushing any sort of technology and is a generation behind and basically only a 1st party machine with little 3rd party support imo and 2, at least with the switch they kind of just merged their handheld and console into one and I would assume most people use the switch as a handheld so its not really a traditional home console

 

[adamsapple]

NZ decides on July 17.

They had concerns but will likely approve.

Waiting on NZ at this point is like ...

 

[Nubulax]

I actually believe a consolidation war is what will bring on a crash - especially if the main market being pushed by the richest player is a subscription service. We are even seeing this happen in film and shows; streaming services are set for a major crash, especially because the comparative pennies offered to the actual writers and actors themselves. There's no doubt that game budgets would be cut if streaming/subscription services dominate over game sales. Sure, MS will have the most old content, but new content that is actually worth playing will be few and far between, and still it will be unsustainable for the development of new content.

Isnt this what basically happened to the music industry, except those artists can go out and tour and do other things for money. I guess in the video game space it would mean games loaded to the brim with even more DLC or Microstransactions or "early access" from a premium edition for more $ to make up for it

 

[Clear]

That and ignoring that Nintendo still gets exclusives from SE along with MS too. SE are the biggest whores of the industry, they hardly do anything without getting paid first.

That's called business LOL.

Noone's doing people favours, especially in publicly traded companies where the primary responsibility for CEO's is making profit for their stock-holders.

 

[adamsapple]

If MS actually try subvert the CMA's decision and close the acquisition against it I genuinely hope the subsequent fines, asset seizures, financial sanctions, and other assorted responses deployed by the UK government are so severe that MS execs are forced to shutter the Xbox divsion and beg on their collective knees for a reprieve before their shareholders have them executed.

Whose alt is this ?

 

[X-Wing]

The deal is great for the industry because it's going to keep the industry "active" for the next 5-10 years before we get another 80s like crash.
Lots of money moving non stop for years to come!

MS gets ATK, Sony responds with buying someone else, MS buys EA, Sony uses the install base advantage to buy timed exclusives from every independent dev and publisher on the planet, MS buy Take Two, Sony "leaks" dirt on Xbox, MS "leaks" dirt on Sony, gamers get tired of being constantly divided and some give up gaming, others focus on Nintendo only. Sony and Xbox bleed money from the acquisitions and start shutting down studio after studio.
In the end, only Nintendo, that didn't take part on the war and did nothing, remains doing business as usual, completely oblivious of what is going on.

I understand that is a bit of irony but... The signal being sent out by this acquisition is that if you want to have a place in the gaming industry you don't need to work hard to conquer it, you can just buy it. Wouldn't surprise me if this would be the start of an acquisition war fought between big tech companies, with Amazon and Google soon to swoop a big publisher or two to get a real foothold in gaming.

 

[Kilau]

That's called business LOL.

Noone's doing people favours, especially in publicly traded companies where the primary responsibility for CEO's is making profit for their stock-holders.

Not sure what point you think you are making. I’m pointing out that if you want an exclusive from SE they have proven more than willing as long as you bring the money upfront.

 

[X-Wing]

The most likely scenario. Why would they close over the CMA and risk losing any goodwill that the CMA may be willing to give them and jeopardize the deal again?

 

[Heisenberg007]

BEFORE:

NOW:

 

[FeastYoEyes]

I see no way that this will mean good things for the gaming industry. Net zero benefit in 5 to 10 years.

 

[Clear]

Not sure what point you think you are making. I’m pointing out that if you want an exclusive from SE they have proven more than willing as long as you bring the money upfront.

I was responding to calling SE "whores" for doing normal business. Just thought it was funny that you seem to think there are virtuous, virginal players in the space.

 

[intheinbetween]

It’s so entertaining seeing some folks wishful thinking for a last resort from eitherthe CMA, Canada or a new attempt from the FTC to kill the deal, lol

 

[Solidus_T]

Isnt this what basically happened to the music industry, except those artists can go out and tour and do other things for money. I guess in the video game space it would mean games loaded to the brim with even more DLC or Microstransactions or "early access" from a premium edition for more $ to make up for it

Pretty much. The music industry shrunk to about half its size when streaming became dominant and has never recovered. I bet that half is dominated by the biggest, mainstream appointed pop stars. With video games, there's basically no way out if streaming/subscription becomes dominant except betting on big GaaS type games like Genshin Impact or having a model similar to GTA V.

 

[Nubulax]

I understand that is a bit of irony but... The signal being sent out by this acquisition is that if you want to have a place in the gaming industry you don't need to work hard to conquer it, you can just buy it. Wouldn't surprise me if this would be the start of an acquisition war fought between big tech companies, with Amazon and Google soon to swoop a big publisher or two to get a real foothold in gaming.

Sadly I feel this will be the way of VR.... You see APPLE actually trying to get in on it and develop their own device which is great and hopefully they continue to push that envelope and games as well going forward but I cant help to think Microsoft wont do shit in VR until the Market is way more mature, and instead of actually helping and contributing to make it more mainstream and better they will just gobble up whatever mature VR companies and tech out there and then call it their own

To your last point... if Google or Amazon wants to get into gaming and not be WAY WAY behind in the future they actually do need to start picking up studios and content otherwise they will never compete with MS if the cloud future comes. Amazon has the leading cloud infrastructure with about 32% of the market and google sits at around 10% with MS at 23%... They are the top 3 cloud providers and nobody else comes close. If im the CEO or high level executives I imagine they are having serious talk throughout this entire ABK deal about jumping in and taking gaming seriously.

As a serious question though... if Amazon or Google doesnt hop in to the gaming industry... how will anyone even come close to competing with MS if it moves to a more streaming/cloud based future if MS gobbles up another couple publishers. Just look at all the major IP they will own with ABK... and thats just 2 publishers... what if they went out and bought Capcom and Take 2/EA for example

 

[Varteras]

That's called business LOL.

Noone's doing people favours, especially in publicly traded companies where the primary responsibility for CEO's is making profit for their stock-holders.

It's not at all common but it does happen. Sony bought stock in Squaresoft over 20 years ago because they needed help. Enix was going to walk on the merger because Square looked too risky after their movie bombed. Sony gave them enough cash to stabilize and get some successful games out. This convinced Enix to move forward. More than a decade later, Sony was in trouble and talked to SE about selling their shares. Which SE understood they needed to do. It does happen.

 

[Kilau]

I was responding to calling SE "whores" for doing normal business. Just thought it was funny that you seem to think there are virtuous, virginal players in the space.

Try not to get triggered over words, they are just a company. Second point, I never said that nor do I think that so move on.

 

[Nubulax]

It's not at all common but it does happen. Sony bought stock in Squaresoft over 20 years ago because they needed help. Enix was going to walk on the merger because Square looked too risky after their movie bombed. Sony gave them enough cash to stabilize and get some successful games out. This convinced Enix to move forward. More than a decade later, Sony was in trouble and talked to SE about selling their shares. Which SE understood they needed to do. It does happen.

Its too bad they didnt just buy square outright back then :/

 

[DaGwaphics]

Waste of taxpayer money….?

From 2 companies who take extreme measures to avoid tax across the globe.

Shameless.

US Tax payer pay the operating expenses of the FTC including the money they waste on these hope and prayer cases they've been launching recently.

 

[feynoob]

MS will close the deal and piss on the UK CMA.
Glory to the US.

/S

 

[Varteras]

Its too bad they didnt just buy square outright back then :/

Yeah but they assured them they wouldn't. Sony made a number of decisions, or indecisions, that were silly in hindsight when it comes to ownership. Squaresoft. FromSoft. Crash Bandicoot. Spyro.

 

[Bogroll]

I understand that is a bit of irony but... The signal being sent out by this acquisition is that if you want to have a place in the gaming industry you don't need to work hard to conquer it, you can just buy it. Wouldn't surprise me if this would be the start of an acquisition war fought between big tech companies, with Amazon and Google soon to swoop a big publisher or two to get a real foothold in gaming.

The industry has gone past that now. It's a God eat God world. It's the dogs tomorrow.